The South West African 0-10-0 of 1911 was a steam locomotive from the German South West Africa era.
In 1911, the ''Lüderitzbucht Eisenbahn'' (Lüderitzbucht Railway) in
German South West Africa placed six locomotives with a Decapod type wheel arrangement in service. They were no longer in service when all railways in the territory came under the administration of the South African Railways in 1922.
[Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1948). ''The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VII - South African Railways (Continued).'' South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, January 1948. pp. 31-32.]
Manufacturer
Six locomotives with a Decapod type wheel arrangement were built in 1910 by
Henschel & Son of
Kassel
Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...
in Germany for a French Colony in Africa. The engines were rejected by French inspectors, however, and they were purchased by the German government for £2,000 each in 1911, on behalf of the ''Lüderitzbucht-Gesellschaft'' company who leased the ''Lüderitzbucht Eisenbahn'' and shared the profits with the government.
[Henschel-Lieferliste (Henschel & Son works list), compiled by Dietmar Stresow.]
Characteristics
The locomotive had flat "D" type sliding valves which were actuated by
Heusinger valve gear
The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgian railway engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844.
The gear is sometimes named without the final "s", since ...
, with Laird type crossheads with single slide bars. To protect the motion from wind-blown sand in the
Namib Desert, it had plate shields arranged along the full length of the engine, hinged on the running board to allow access to the motion.
The engine was built on a thick
plate frame
Plate may refer to:
Cooking
* Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food
* Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining
* Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...
, strengthened with stretchers. It had coupled wheels of diameter and cylinders of bore and stroke. The total weight of the engine and tender in full working order was and it had a tractive effort of at 75% of boiler pressure.
To allow side-play in curves, the axle boxes of the leading and trailing coupled wheels had no inside flanges. Their wheel arrangement, without leading or trailing wheels to lend stability at speed, was more suitable for yard work at slow speeds than for mainline working. According to one report, their utilisation as mainline engines rapidly resulted in the development of excessive side-play to the extent that the tyres eventually cut into the spring hangers.
Service
The locomotives were numbered in the range from 101 to 106 and were placed in service on the ''Südbahn'' line from
Lüderitzbucht via
Seeheim to
Kalkfontein
Karasburg ( naq, ǀNomsoros, old name af, Kalkfontein, literally "carst spring") is a town of 4,000 inhabitants in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia and the district capital of the Karasburg electoral constituency. It lies at the heart ...
, where they formed the mainstay of motive power. Even though the engines were popular with the enginemen, they were not economical in operation. Owing to their light construction, they were allowed to take only three-quarters of their full load.
None of these engines survived the First World War.
References
{{Locomotives of South West Africa
0880
0-10-0 locomotives
E locomotives
Henschel locomotives
Cape gauge railway locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1911