The Natal Government Railways 4-6-2TT ''Havelock'' of 1888 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre- Union era in the

Natal Colony The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies t ...

. During 1887, designs for a 2-8-2 Mikado type tank-and-tender locomotive were prepared by the

Natal Government Railways The Natal Government Railways (NGR) was formed in January 1877 in the Colony of Natal. In 1877, the Natal Government Railways acquired the Natal Railway Company for the sum of £40,000, gaining the line from the Point to Durban and from Durban ...

. The locomotive was built in the

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

workshops and entered service in 1888, named ''Havelock''. It was later rebuilt to a 4-6-2 Pacific type wheel arrangement. The engine ''Havelock'' was the first locomotive to be designed and built in South Africa.Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1944). ''The Locomotive in South Africa – A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter III – Natal Government Railways''. (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, June 1944. pp. 421-422.Espitalier, T.J. (1947). ''Locomotives Designed and Built in South Africa – The S1, in service this month, is not the first locally-built engine.'' South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, October 1947. pp. 841-843.

Design and construction

The designs for a 2-8-2 Mikado type tank-and-tender locomotive were drawn up in 1887 by William Milne, the Locomotive Superintendent of the Natal Government Railways (NGR). It was built in the Durban workshops of the NGR at a cost of £3,021 and was not only the first locomotive and tender to be designed and built in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, but also the first in South Africa to have eight-coupled wheels. Only the wheels and axles were obtained from England. Construction began on 26 January 1888 and the locomotive went on its first trial trip during August of that year. It was allocated number 48 and was named ''Havelock'', after Sir

Arthur Havelock Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock, (7 May 1844 – 25 June 1908) was a career British colonial governor, serving as Governor of Sierra Leone from 1880, of Natal, of Madras, of Ceylon from 1890 to 1895, and of Tasmania from 1901 to 1904. Early life ...

, the governor of the

Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies t ...

from 1886 to 1889.SAR-L Yahoogroup message 46036 of 27 September 2013, from Bruno Martin – Re: NGR Hairy Mary
/ref> The engine ''Havelock'' was amongst the forerunners of eight-coupled locomotives in the world. It was not until eight years later, in 1896, that the first eight-coupled locomotive entered service in the United Kingdom. On the NGR, the design of the Dübs A locomotive, later the NGR , was based on the experience gained with the engine ''Havelock''. Their respective designs were similar in several aspects.

Characteristics

The engine ''Havelock'' was the first tender locomotive in NGR service, a tank-and-tender engine which carried water in the four-wheeled tender as well as in the side-tanks. The engine and tender were both equipped with vacuum brakes. The locomotive had two boiler-mounted sandboxes and was equipped with both Salter and Ramsbottom safety valves. The firebox was equipped with a rectangular flat-bottomed type of ashpan, which was only deep since it had to clear the trailing axle. The leading and trailing carrying wheels were fitted in F.W. Webb-type radial axleboxes. Webb's arrangement consisted of two radial axle boxes joined by a curved casting, so that they moved in unison between curved steel plates bolted to the main frame. A bogie check spring, having a single spiral spring, was enclosed in a box secured to the curved plates. The arcs of the leading and trailing radial axle boxes were struck from a centre midway between the coupled wheels.

Service

The first official trip was made from Durban to

Pinetown Pinetown is a city that forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, based just inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The city is situated 16 km (10 mi) north-west of Durban and 64 km (40 mi) south-east of Pieterm ...

on 7 January 1889, after which the engine ''Havelock'' was placed in service on the Durban-

Cato Ridge Cato Ridge is a town in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa named after George Christopher Cato (1814–1893), the first mayor of Durban. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality as a ...

section. Being the pride and joy of the NGR, the engine ''Havelock'' was present at several official functions, such as the opening of the line from Ladysmith to Biggarsberg Junction on 12 September 1889 and the turning of the first sod for the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

branchline at Ladysmith on 7 November 1889. NGR 4-6-2TT Havelock as Hairy Mary

During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, the engine ''Havelock'' was prepared to see action while serving on armoured trains. Unlike usual practice in such cases, the engine was not equipped with armour plate protection, but was draped in strands of thick hemp rope which covered it from front to back. This earned the locomotive the apt nickname ''Hairy Mary'' amongst the troops.

Modification

After the introduction of the more powerful Dübs A locomotives, the engine ''Havelock'' was relegated to branchline working. It was converted to a 4-6-2 Pacific type wheel arrangement for this work, since the shorter coupled wheelbase would enable it to negotiate sharper curves. The engine remained in service on the North Coast line between Durban and Verulam until it was scrapped in 1905.

Illustration

The main picture shows the engine ''Havelock'' in its original Mikado type configuration, while the pictures below shows it in its subsequent Pacific type configuration. File:Natal 4-6-2TT Havelock as Hairy Mary.jpg, ''Havelock'' as ''Hairy Mary'', c. 1898 File:Natal 4-6-2TT Havelock (ex 2-8-2TT).jpg, ''Havelock'' as a Pacific type, after modification

References

{{Locomotives of South Africa 0700 0700 0700 4-6-2 locomotives 1′D1′ n2t locomotives NGR shop-built locomotives Cape gauge railway locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1888 1888 in South Africa Scrapped locomotives 2′C1′ n2t locomotives