The Indian locomotive class SG is a

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of Indian steam locomotives used for goods trains. Its class designation, SG, stands for ''Standard Goods''. It was, by number of locomotives built, one of the largest steam locomotive classes built in the United Kingdom. It was one of the BESA locomotives developed by the British Engineering Standards Committee, later called the British Engineering Standards Association (BESA).

History

With the growing demand for locomotives in the British Raj, it became increasingly difficult for British locomotive manufacturers to fulfill that need. To alleviate that problem, the British Engineering Standards Association (BESA) was comissioned to develop standard locomotive types. The first BESA report issued in 1903 recommended designs for a 4-4-0 standard passenger locomotive classified as SP and one for an 0-6-0 standard goods locomotive classified as SG. Later, revised editions of the BESA reports proposed eight classes of

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

locomotives and four classes of meter gauge locomotives for various services; these locomotives were later called BESA locomotives. The SG class was used by the North Western State Railway (NWR), the

Eastern Bengal Railway The Eastern Bengal Railway (full name: "Eastern Bengal Railway Company"; shortened EBR) was one of the pioneering railway companies that operated from 1857 to 1942, in Bengal and Assam provinces of British India. History Formation The Eastern ...

(EBR), the East Indian Railway (EIR) and the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway (ORR) in India, hauling both goods and passenger trains. They could haul 1450 tons of freight with a speed of . Some locomotives were in service in India until the early 1980s and in Pakistan until the 1990s.

Design variants

A later variant designed with a

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superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There ar ...

was classified SGS (''Standard Goods, Superheated''). These locomotives received larger

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with

piston valves Piston valves are one form of valve used to control the flow of steam within a steam engine or locomotive. They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power ...

and larger boilers, as well as a four-axle

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with

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

s, as compared to their earlier designs which used saturated steam. SG class locomotives retrofitted with superheaters were classified as SGC (''Standard Goods, Converted''). The SGSC class, later called SGC2, had round fireboxes instead of the Belpaire firebox of the original design. SGC3 class locomotives were retrofitted with superheaters and were fitted with the Lentz rotary valve gear. Despite their classifications, they frequently hauled passenger and mail trains. A design variant classified as SG1 existed with unknown design characteristics.

Preservation

References

Steam locomotives of India 5 ft 6 in gauge locomotives 0-6-0 locomotives Vulcan Foundry locomotives Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns locomotives Freight locomotives NBL locomotives {{steam-loco-stub

History

Design variants

Preservation

See also

References