South African 0-4-0ST 1903

South African 0-4-0ST 1903

300px Harbour shunting engine Stormberg, Outeniqua Transport Museum

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Hudswell, Clarke and Company Builder Hudswell, Clarke and Company Serial number 686-687 Build date 1903 Total produced 2

Specifications Configuration 0-4-0ST Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge Driver diameter Wheelbase 5 ft 6 in (1.676 m) Length 20 ft 7 in (6.274 m) over couplers 17 ft (5.182 m) over beams Height 10 ft 2 in (3.099 m) Axle load Adhesive weight Loco weight Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity Water cap 400 imp gal (1,800 L; 480 US gal) Boiler 8 ft 7 in (2.616 m) inside length 5 ft 2 in (1.575 m) pitch Boiler pressure Firegrate area 5.25 sq ft (0.488 m2) Heating surface 234 sq ft (21.739 m2)  • Tubes 58 tubes diameter 201.5 sq ft (18.720 m2)  • Firebox 32.5 sq ft (3.019 m2) Cylinders Two Cylinder size bore stroke Valve gear Stephenson

Performance figures Tractive effort 5,454 lbf (24 kN) at 75% pressure

Career Operators Cape Colony Irrigation Department South African Railways Class Harbour shunter Number in class 2 Numbers PWD 1 & 2 Official name SAR Thebus & Stormberg Delivered 1903 First run 1903 (PWD), 1916 (SAR)

The South African Railways 0-4-0ST of 1903 is a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.

Two 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives named Thebus and Stormberg that were originally built for the Irrigation Department of the Public Works Department of the Cape of Good Hope in 1903, were acquired by the South African Railways in 1916 for use as harbour shunting engines. In railway service they were named instead of being classified and numbered.

Origin

During World War I, when the South African Railways (SAR) experienced an acute shortage of locomotive power, it acquired a number of locomotives from private concerns and other government departments.

File:Harbour Stormberg (0-4-0ST) BP.JPG

The Public Works Department (PWD) of the Cape Province had two locomotives, used by the Irrigation Department, that it could spare. These two were donated to the SAR in 1916. Numbered l and 2 by the PWD, they were 0-4-0ST saddle-tank locomotives that had been built by Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited in 1903.

Names

The locomotives were not classified or numbered by the SAR and were named instead. The first was named Thebus, after the town Teebus on the line between Stormberg and Rosmead on the Cape Midland System, while the second was named Stormberg after the town of that name on the Cape Eastern System mainline from Springfontein to East London.

Service

The engine Thebus spent most of its SAR service life as dock shunter at the Port Elizabeth Harbour.

File:SAR Harbour (0-4-0ST) Thebus.jpg

The engine Thebus

The locomotive Stormberg spent most of its SAR service life as a dock shunter in East London Harbour, until it was eventually semi-retired and used to test the steam-heating equipment on passenger coaches. During World War II it was transferred to Cape Town for use as a construction locomotive during the expansion works at Table Bay Harbour. From there it went to Mosselbaai to once again serve as harbour shunter, until it was transferred to Germiston in Transvaal, where it was retired and placed in storage for a number of years.

The engine Stormberg was eventually returned to East London, where it was restored and plinthed on East London station. It eventually ended up as an exhibit in the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George. The engine Thebus was presumably scrapped.