South African Class 8A 4-8-0 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In 1902 the Central South African Railways placed forty Class 8-L1 4-8-0

4-8-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. The type was nicknamed the Mastodon or Twelve-wheeler in North America....

Mastodon 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. In 1912, when they were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered and reclassified to Class 8A.

Manufacturers

Due to the shortage of locomotives brought about by wartime conditions during the Second Freedom War, the Imperial Military Railways (IMR) placed orders for forty Cape Class 8 locomotives with two Scottish locomotive manufacturers in 1901. They were built to the specifications of the Class 8

South African Class 8 4-8-0

In 1902 and 1903 the Cape Government Railways placed twenty-three Class 8 steam locomotives with a 4-8-0 Mastodon wheel arrangement in service, three on the Cape Western System, eight on the Cape Midland System and twelve on the Cape Eastern System...

4-8-0 "Mastodon" type designed by H.M. Beatty, the Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the Cape Government Railways (CGR) from 1896 to 1910, and were to be the last locomotives ordered under the military administration.

With the cessation of hostilities in June 1902, the working of all railways in the Transvaal and Orange Free State was handed over to civil control. On 1 July 1902 the IMR became the Central South African Railways

Central South African Railways

From 1902 to 1904, the area of power of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Percy Girouard later also included the lines of The Netherlands-South African Railway Company; together this dominion covered all lines in the Transvaal that belonged to NZASM ....

(CSAR) and the forty locomotives were therefore delivered to the CSAR, where they were designated Class 8-L1. The twenty built by Neilson, Reid and Company were numbered 401 to 420, and the twenty by Sharp, Stewart and Company were numbered 421 to 440.

Reclassification

Ten years later, in 1912, when these forty locomotives were assimilated into the newly established South African Railways (SAR), they were renumbered 1092 to 1131 and reclassified to Class 8A.

All the CGR’s Class 8 2-8-0 Consolidation types and Class 8 4-8-0 Mastodon types, together with the CSAR’s Class 8-L2 and 8-L3 4-8-0 Mastodon locomotives, were grouped into ten different sub-classes by the SAR. The 4-8-0 locomotives became SAR Classes 8 and 8A to 8F and the 2-8-0 locomotives became Classes 8X to 8Z.

Modification

During A.G. Watson’s term as Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the SAR from 1929 to 1936, many of the Class 8 to Class 8F locomotives were equipped with superheated boilers, larger bore cylinders and either inside or outside admission piston valves. The outside admission locomotives had their cylinder bore increased from 18.5 inches (469.9 mm) to 19 inches (482.6 mm) and retained their existing SAR classifications, while the inside admission locomotives had their cylinder bore increased to 20 inches (508 mm) and were reclassified by having a "W" suffix added to their existing SAR classifications.

Of the Class 8A locomotives, fourteen were equipped with superheated boilers, 19 inches (482.6 mm) bore cylinders and outside admission piston valves, while retaining their Class 8A classification.

Two were equipped with superheated boilers, 20 inches (508 mm) bore cylinders and inside admission piston valves and were reclassified to Class 8AW.

The Class 8A and 8AW builders, works numbers, renumbering and superheating modifications are shown in the table.

**Class 8A & 8AW – Builders, works numbers, renumbering and modification**
Builder	Works No.	CSAR No.	SAR No.	SAR Model
Neilson Reid	6176	401	1092	Superheated
Neilson Reid	6177	402	1093	Superheated
Neilson Reid	6178	403	1094	Superheated
Neilson Reid	6179	404	1095
Neilson Reid	6180	405	1096
Neilson Reid	6181	406	1097	Superheated
Neilson Reid	6182	407	1098
Neilson Reid	6183	408	1099
Neilson Reid	6184	409	1100	Class 8AW
Neilson Reid	6185	410	1101
Neilson Reid	6186	411	1102
Neilson Reid	6187	412	1103
Neilson Reid	6188	413	1104	Superheated
Neilson Reid	6189	414	1105	Class 8AW
Neilson Reid	6190	415	1106	Superheated
Neilson Reid	6191	416	1107
Neilson Reid	6192	417	1108
Neilson Reid	6193	418	1109
Neilson Reid	6194	419	1110
Neilson Reid	6195	420	1111
Sharp Stewart	4848	421	1112
Sharp Stewart	4849	422	1113
Sharp Stewart	4850	423	1114
Sharp Stewart	4851	424	1115
Sharp Stewart	4852	425	1116
Sharp Stewart	4853	426	1117
Sharp Stewart	4854	427	1118
Sharp Stewart	4855	428	1119
Sharp Stewart	4856	429	1120
Sharp Stewart	4857	430	1121	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4858	431	1122	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4859	432	1123	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4860	433	1124
Sharp Stewart	4861	434	1125
Sharp Stewart	4862	435	1126	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4863	436	1127	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4864	437	1128	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4865	438	1129	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4866	439	1130	Superheated
Sharp Stewart	4867	440	1131

Government railways

In SAR service, the 4-8-0 Class 8 family of locomotives served on every system in the country and in the 1920s it became the mainstay of motive power on many branch lines. Their final days were spent in shunting service and by 1972 they were all withdrawn.

Industrial

In November 1971 one Class 8A locomotive, number 1126, was sold to the Zambesi Saw Mills (ZSM) in Zambia

Zambia

Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....

. This was the last locomotive to be purchased by this logging company that worked the teak forests that stretched 100 miles (160.9 km) to the north-west of Livingstone in Zambia

Livingstone, Zambia

Livingstone or Maramba is a historic colonial city and present capital of the Southern Province of Zambia, a tourism centre for the Victoria Falls lying north of the Zambezi River, and a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Falls...

. It had built one of the longest logging railways in the world to serve its sawmill at Mulobezi

Mulobezi

Mulobezi is a small town in the Southern Province of Zambia, and the centre of its timber industry. Timber extends into Southern Province with which the town is economically linked....

.

Railway operations ceased at Mulobezi around 1972, whilst operation of the line to Livingstone was taken over by the Zambia Railways (ZR) in 1973. Number 1126 was employed as a shunter at Mulobezi after logging operations had ceased and the ZR had taken over the main line. It was returned to Livingstone in December 1975 and eventually, in June 1983, it went to the Railway Museum at Livingstone where it still resides.

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