The South African Railways Class 17 4-8-0TT of 1926 was a steam locomotive from the pre-

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

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 to ...

. Between 1926 and 1929, to address a shortage of suitable shunting locomotives, the South African Railways rebuilt twenty-one Class A 4-8-2 Mountain type tank steam locomotives to Class 17

4-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, usually in a leading truck or bogie, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and no traili ...

Mastodon type tank-and-tender locomotives.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. p. 423.South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2'0" & 3'6" Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, pp. 21 & 21A, as amendedSoul of A Railway, System 6, Part 2: Greyville Loco, Greyville Station to Umgeni & Berea Road to Rossburgh. Caption 7.
(Accessed on 26 November 2016)

Manufacturers

The Natal Government Railways (NGR) Class D 4-8-2T Mountain type tank locomotive was designed by William Milne, the locomotive superintendent of the NGR from 1877 to 1896, and built by Dübs and Company. One hundred of these locomotives were delivered in ten batches by Dübs between 1888 and 1899 and in 1915 another two were built from spare parts by the South African Railways (SAR) in their

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

shops.

Belpaire firebox

Beginning in 1905, these NGR Class D locomotives, originally known on the NGR as the "Dübs A", were gradually reboilered and fitted with

Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and squa ...

es with wider firegrates. The unmodified locomotives were then designated NGR Class D1 while the modified locomotives with Belpaire fireboxes were designated Class D2.''The Railway Report for year ending 31 Dec. 1908'', Natal Government Railways, p. 39, par 14. In SAR service, the NGR Class D1 and D2 were both designated Class A in 1912 while the modified locomotives were referred to as Class A Belpaire.

Rebuilding

When a shortage of suitable shunting locomotives developed in the 1920s as a result of increasing traffic throughout the country and particularly on the Witwatersrand, the SAR modified twenty-one of the Class A Belpaire Mountain type tank locomotives. The modifications were done between 1926 and 1929 and consisted of the removal of their trailing

bissel bogie A Bissell or Bissel truck (also Bissel bogie or Pony truck) is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by and usually then known as a ''pony truck'' ...

s and coal bunkers, the shortening of their main frames and the addition of tenders to increase their coal and water capacity, thereby converting them to 4-8-0 Mastodon type tank-and-tender locomotives. Tenders from various scrapped locomotive types were used. The tender depicted in the main picture is a three-axle tender while the official SAR locomotive diagram depicts a tender with four axles on two bogies.

Service

These rebuilt 4-8-2TT locomotives were reclassified to and renumbered in the range from 1415 to 1435. They were employed as shunting engines around

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

and

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

and gave more than thirty years service in this format. In October 1957 Pietermaritzburg’s last two Class 17s were transferred from Masons Mill to Greyville near Durban. The locomotives were all withdrawn from service by 1961, more than seventy years after the first Class A locomotive was built.Soul of A Railway, System 6, Part 5: The New Main Line from Rossburgh to Pietermaritzburg compiled by Les Pivnic. Caption 103.
(Accessed on 26 August 2017) In November 1953 two of these locomotives, numbers 1423 and 1431, were purchased by the Zambezi Saw Mills Company for use on their Livingstone-Mulobezi logging railway in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

. These two engines were scrapped between 1961 and 1963.

Works numbers and renumbering

References

{{Locomotives of South Africa

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

4-8-0 locomotives 2D locomotives Dübs locomotives SAR locomotives Cape gauge railway locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1926 1926 in South Africa Scrapped locomotives