South African Class 6B 4-6-0 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In 1897 and 1898 the Cape Government Railways

Cape Government Railways

The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910.-Private railways:...

placed a third batch of fifty-five Class 6 4-6-0

4-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This wheel arrangement became the second-most popular...

steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s in service, thirty-two on its Western System, twenty-one on its Midland System and two on its Eastern System. During the Second Freedom War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

seven were transferred to the Imperial Military Railways on loan, and in 1907 four were sold to the Benguela Railway in Angola. In 1912, when the remaining fifty-one locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and reclassified to Class 6B. During World War II two of them were sold to the Sudan Railways.

Manufacturers

The Class 6 was designed at the Salt River works of the Cape Government Railways (CGR) at the same time as the Class 7

South African Class 7 4-8-0

In 1892 the Cape Government Railways placed six Class 7 steam locomotives with a 4-8-0 Mastodon wheel arrangement in service and between 1892 and 1893 another thirty-two were acquired. They were initially placed in service on the Cape Midland System, but were later distributed between the Cape...

, both according to the specifications of Michael Stephens, then Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the CGR’s Western System, and under the supervision of CGR Locomotive Superintendent H.M. Beatty. Whereas the Class 7 was conceived primarily as a goods locomotive, the Class 6 was intended to be its fast passenger service counterpart.

The fifty-five locomotives in the third group were built between 1897 and 1898 by Dübs and Company

Dûbs and Company

Dübs & Co. was a locomotive works in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Henry Dübs in 1863 and based at the Queens Park Works in Polmadie. In 1903 it became part of the North British Locomotive Company.-Preserved locomotives:...

and Neilson and Company

Neilson and Company

Neilson and Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Glasgow, Scotland.The company was started in 1836 at McAlpine Street by Walter Neilson and James Mitchell to manufacture marine and stationary engines...

. While they were being built, in 1898, the firm of Neilson and Company changed its name to Neilson, Reid and Company. Five of these locomotives were built by Dübs and of the remaining fifty, thirty-seven were delivered as built by Neilson and the last thirteen as built by Neilson, Reid.

All five Dübs locomotives, numbered 577 to 581, and the thirteen Neilson, Reid builts, numbered 587 to 593 and 595 to 600, went to the Midland System. Of the thirty-seven Neilson builts, thirty-two went to the Western System, numbered 202 to 233, three to the Midland System, numbered 582 to 584, and two to the Eastern System, numbered 663 and 664. Their respective works numbers and CGR running numbers are tabulated below.

These locomotives were to all intents and purposes identical to the previous fifty that became the Class 6A

South African Class 6A 4-6-0

In 1896 and 1897 the Cape Government Railways placed a second batch of fifty Class 6 4-6-0 steam locomotives in service, forty-one on its Western System, six on its Midland System and three on its Eastern System. During the Second Freedom War four were transferred to the Imperial Military Railways...

, except that they had Type XE bogie tenders instead of the six wheeled Type YC tenders that were used with the second group of Class 6 locomotives.

Class 6 sub-classes

When all but four of these fifty-five locomotives were assimilated into the newly established South African Railways (SAR) in 1912, they were reclassified to Class 6B and renumbered 490 to 540.

The rest of the CGR’s Class 6 locomotives, together with those Class 6-L1 to 6-L3 locomotives that were inherited by the Central South African Railways (CSAR) from the Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwermentspoorwegen (OVGS) via the Imperial Military Railways (IMR), were grouped into thirteen more sub-classes by the SAR. The 4-6-0 locomotives became SAR Classes 6, 6A, 6C to 6H and 6J to 6L, the 2-6-2 locomotives became Class 6Y and the 2-6-4 locomotives became Class 6Z.

Modifications

Several of the CSAR’s Class 6-L1 to 6-L3 locomotives had been modified by P.A Hyde, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the CSAR, by having their round top fireboxes replaced with larger Belpaire firebox

Belpaire firebox

The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium. It has a greater surface area at the top of the firebox, improving heat transfer and steam production...

es and by having larger, more sheltered cabs installed. This conversion improved their performance tremendously and resulted in several of the Class 6, 6A and 6B locomotives being similarly modified by the SAR in later years, but without altering their classifications.

During the 1930s many of them were modified once again, when the CME of the SAR at the time, A.G. Watson, displayed his aversion to Belpaire fireboxes and reboilered them with round-topped fireboxes again, but while retaining the larger cabs. Once again, they retained their classifications.

Imperial Military Railways

Seven of these locomotives saw service with the IMR during the Second Freedom War, on loan from the CGR and temporarily renumbered for the duration of the war.

South Africa

The Class 6 series of locomotives were introduced primarily as passenger locomotives, but when the class became displaced by larger and more powerful locomotive classes, it literally became a "Jack-of-all-trades" that proved itself as one of the most useful and successful locomotive classes ever to be designed at the Salt River shops. It went on to see service in all parts of the country except Natal and was used on all types of traffic.

In Cape Town they held a monopoly over the suburban services until electrification arrived in 1928, and on the Reef they also worked these services between Randfontein and Springs until the loads became too heavy for them. They were employed on branch lines all over the country, Natal excluded, and practically every big station and many smaller ones had its quota of these locomotives to work the local passenger, goods and shunting services.

Like the Class 7, the Class 6 family gave good service for many years. By the time the last ones were retired in 1973, the Class 6 series had achieved a service life of eighty years, a performance that can be matched by few, if any, other locomotive classes world wide.

Benguela Railway

In 1907 four of these locomotives were sold to the Benguela Railway (Caminho de Ferro de Benguela – CFB) in Angola

Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

and these therefore did not see SAR service. In the mid 1930's, in order to ease maintenance, modifications were made to the running boards and brake gear of the CFB locomotives. The former involved mounting the running boards higher, thereby getting rid of the driving wheel fairings. This gave the locomotives a much more American rather than British appearance.

Sudan Railways

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

sixteen of the Classes 6 to 6D were transferred to the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

to assist with the war effort during the North African Campaign

North African campaign

During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...

. The two Class 6B locomotives in this group were numbers 534 and 538. They were sold to the Sudan Railways Corporation in 1942 and renumbered M711 and M712 in the same order as their former SAR running numbers.

Renumberings

During their long service lives some of the Class 6A locomotives underwent multiple renumberings. All were initially numbered into the CGR’s three systems, 202 to 233 on the Western System, 577 to 584, 587 to 593 and 595 to 600 on the Midland System, and 663 and 664 on the Eastern System. The seven locomotives loaned to the IMR were renumbered C502, C504 to C508 and C512 for the duration of their military service, while the four sold to Angola became the Benguela Railway's numbers 22 to 25. Regarding the four Benguela locomotives, sources are inconclusive about the renumbering in respect of which particular CGR locomotive became which particular CFB locomotive and the numbers as listed were arrived at by process of elimination.

The remaining fifty-one locomotives were eventually renumbered into the SAR’s roster in 1912, becoming SAR 490 to 540. The table reflects all these renumberings as well as their builders and works numbers.

Class 6B 4-6-0
Builders, works numbers and renumbering
Builder	Year built	Works no.	CGR no.	IMR no.	Benguela no.	SAR no.	Sudan no.
Neilson	1897	5120	202			490
Neilson	1897	5121	203			491
Neilson	1897	5122	204			492
Neilson	1897	5123	205			493
Neilson	1897	5124	206			494
Neilson	1897	5125	207			495
Neilson	1897	5128	208	C504		496
Neilson	1897	5129	209			497
Neilson	1897-98	5131	210			498
Neilson	1897-98	5132	211			499
Neilson	1897-98	5133	212			500
Neilson	1897-98	5134	213			501
Neilson	1897-98	5135	214	C507		502
Neilson	1897-98	5136	215			503
Neilson	1897-98	5137	216			504
Neilson	1897-98	5138	217			505
Neilson	1897-98	5139	218		22
Neilson	1897-98	5140	219			506
Neilson	1897-98	5141	220			507
Neilson	1897-98	5142	221			508
Neilson	1897-98	5143	222	C508		509
Neilson	1897-98	5144	223		23
Neilson	1897-98	5145	224	C506		510
Neilson	1898	5148	225	C512		511
Neilson	1898	5149	226			512
Neilson	1898	5150	227			513
Neilson	1898	5151	228			514
Neilson	1898	5152	229	C502		515
Neilson	1898	5153	230	C505		516
Neilson	1898	5154	231			517
Neilson	1898	5155	232			518
Neilson	1898	5156	233			519
Dübs	1897	3467	577			520
Dübs	1897	3468	578			521
Dübs	1897	3472	579			522
Dübs	1897	3473	580			523
Dübs	1897	3474	581			524
Neilson	1898	5157	582			525
Neilson	1898	5158	583			526
Neilson	1898	5159	584			527
Neilson Reid	1898	5273	587			528
Neilson Reid	1898	5274	588		24
Neilson Reid	1898	5275	589			529
Neilson Reid	1898	5276	590			530
Neilson Reid	1898	5277	591			531
Neilson Reid	1898	5278	592			532
Neilson Reid	1898	5279	593			533
Neilson Reid	1898	5319	595			534	M711
Neilson Reid	1898	5320	596			535
Neilson Reid	1898	5321	597			536
Neilson Reid	1898	5322	598			537
Neilson Reid	1898	5323	599			538	M712
Neilson Reid	1898	5324	600		25
Neilson	1898	5146	663			539
Neilson	1898	5147	664			540

Gallery

The main picture shows Neilson built ex CGR (Western System) Class 6 206, later renumbered SAR Class 6B 494 and reboilered with a Belpaire firebox, on the old Cape Town turntable. The locomotives in the pictures below all have round-top fireboxes.