South African Class GE 2-8-2+2-8-2

First batch Class GE no. 2264, c. 1924

Type and origin
♠ Engine numbers 2260-2275 ♥ Engine numbers 2276 & 2277 ♣ Engine numbers 2260-2265 ♦ Engine numbers 2266-2275
Power type	Steam
Designer	Beyer, Peacock and Company
Builder	Beyer, Peacock and Company
Serial number	6193-6198, 6339-6348, 6716-6717
Model	Class GE
Build date	1924-1930
Total produced	18

Specifications
Configuration	2-8-2+2-8-2 (Double Mikado)
Driver	3rd & 5th coupled axles
Gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge
Leading dia.	28 ¹⁄₂ in (724 mm)
Coupled dia.	45 ¹⁄₂ in (1,156 mm) as built 46 in (1,168 mm) retyred
Trailing dia.	28 ¹⁄₂ in (724 mm)
Wheelbase	70 ft (21,336 mm)
• Engine	♠ 22 ft 10 ¹⁄₂ in (6,972 mm) each ♥ 22 ft 11 in (6,985 mm) each
• Coupled	12 ft 9 in (3,886 mm) each
Pivot centres	35 ft (10,668 mm)
Length:
• Over couplers	♠ 76 ft 8 ³⁄₄ in (23,387 mm) ♥ 76 ft 8 ¹⁄₄ in (23,374 mm)
Height	12 ft 11 ¹¹⁄₁₆ in (3,954 mm)
Frame type	Plate
Axle load	♠ 13 LT 9 cwt (13,670 kg) ♥ 13 LT 3 cwt (13,360 kg)
• Leading	♠ 11 LT 4 cwt (11,380 kg) front 11 LT (11,180 kg) rear ♥ 11 LT 2 cwt (11,280 kg) front 11 LT 10 cwt (11,680 kg) rear
• 1st coupled	♠ 12 LT 6 cwt (12,500 kg) ♥ 12 LT 3 cwt (12,340 kg)
• 2nd coupled	♠ 13 LT 1 cwt (13,260 kg) ♥ 13 LT 3 cwt (13,360 kg)
• 3rd coupled	♠ 12 LT 19 cwt (13,160 kg) ♥ 13 LT 1 cwt (13,260 kg)
• 4th coupled	♠ 12 LT 19 cwt (13,160 kg) ♥ 13 LT 1 cwt (13,260 kg)
• 5th coupled	♠ 13 LT 7 cwt (13,560 kg) ♥ 12 LT 18 cwt (13,110 kg)
• 6th coupled	♠ 13 LT 7 cwt (13,560 kg) ♥ 12 LT 18 cwt (13,110 kg)
• 7th coupled	♠ 13 LT 9 cwt (13,670 kg) ♥ 13 LT (13,210 kg)
• 8th coupled	♠ 12 LT 2 cwt (12,290 kg) ♥ 12 LT 11 cwt (12,750 kg)
• Trailing	♠ 11 LT 3 cwt (11,330 kg) front 11 LT 11 cwt (11,740 kg) rear ♥ 11 LT 7 cwt (11,530 kg) front 11 LT 4 cwt (11,380 kg) rear
Adhesive weight	♠ 103 LT 10 cwt (105,200 kg) ♥ 102 LT 15 cwt (104,400 kg)
Loco weight	♠ 148 LT 8 cwt (150,800 kg) ♥ 147 LT 18 cwt (150,300 kg)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	9 LT (9.1 t)
Water cap	3,300 imp gal (15,000 l) front 1,300 imp gal (5,910 l) rear
Firebox type	Belpaire
• Firegrate area	52 sq ft (4.8 m²)
Boiler:
• Pitch	7 ft 9 ¹⁄₄ in (2,369 mm)
• Diameter	6 ft 9 in (2,057 mm)
• Tube plates	11 ft 3 in (3,429 mm)
• Small tubes	288: 2 in (51 mm)
• Large tubes	36: 5 ¹⁄₂ in (140 mm)
Boiler pressure	180 psi (1,241 kPa)
Safety valve	Ramsbottom
Heating surface	♣ 2,589 sq ft (240.5 m²) ♦ 2,576 sq ft (239.3 m²) ♥ 2,603 sq ft (241.8 m²)
• Tubes	2,374 sq ft (220.552 m²)
• Arch tubes	♥ 27 sq ft (2.5 m²)
• Firebox	♣ 215 sq ft (20.0 m²) ♦♥ 202 sq ft (18.8 m²)
Superheater:
• Heating area	♣ 362 sq ft (33.6 m²) ♦ 349 sq ft (32.4 m²) ♥ 364 sq ft (33.8 m²)
Cylinders	Four
Cylinder size	♠ 18 in (457 mm) bore ♥ 19 in (483 mm) bore ♠♥ 24 in (610 mm) stroke
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Valve type	Piston
Couplers	Bell link-and-pin AAR knuckle (1930s-1950s)

Performance figures
Tractive effort	♠ 45,640 lbf (203.0 kN) @ 75% ♥ 50,850 lbf (226.2 kN) @ 75%

Career
Operators	South African Railways
Class	Class GE
Number in class	18
Numbers	2260-2277
Delivered	1925-1931
First run	1925
Withdrawn	1975

The South African Railways Class GE 2-8-2+2-8-2 of 1925 was an articulated steam locomotive.

Between 1925 and 1931, the South African Railways placed the first six of eventually eighteen Class GE Garratt articulated locomotives with a 2-8-2+2-8-2 Double Mikado type wheel arrangement in service, built in three batches over six years.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Manufacturer

In 1924, specifications were prepared by Colonel F.R. Collins DSO, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South African Railways (SAR), for the Class GE 2-8-2+2-8-2 Double Mikado type Garratt locomotive. An order was placed with Beyer, Peacock and Company (BP) for the design and construction of six locomotives. They were delivered during March 1925, erected in the Salvokop workshops in Pretoria and placed in service, numbered in the range from 2260 to 2265. The Class GE was the only purebred Garratt Double Mikado type to see service on the SAR.^[1]^[2]^[5]^[6]

The locomotives proved to be most successful and a second order for ten engines was placed with BP in 1926. These were placed in traffic during November of that year, numbered in the range from 2266 to 2275.^[1]^[2]

A third order for two locomotives, also from BP, followed in 1930, numbered 2276 and 2277 and placed in service in February 1931.^[1]^[2]^[5]

Characteristics

The Class GE Garratt was designed as a heavy goods locomotive for use on light 60 pounds per yard (30 kilograms per metre) rail. It was an enlarged version of the Class GD 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type. They were the first eight-coupled Garratts to be built for the SAR and were, at the time of their introduction, the most powerful locomotives in respect of tractive effort operating on light track in Africa and the Southern Hemisphere.^[2]^[5]^[7]

They had plate frames, steel Belpaire fireboxes and were superheated, with four safety valves set at 180 pounds per square inch (1,241 kilopascals). Their piston valves were actuated by Walschaerts valve gear, controlled by steam reversing gear. As delivered, they had 45 ¹⁄₂ inches (1,156 millimetres) diameter coupled wheels, which were later retyred to 46 inches (1,168 millimetres) diameter. The two water tanks had a combined capacity of 4,600 imperial gallons (20,900 litres), with a water-filling tube hole on the front tank only, since the front and rear tanks were connected by levelling pipes in accordance with the usual Garratt practice. The locomotives were delivered with mechanical lubricators, but these were later removed.^[2]

The locomotives of the three orders were visually distinguishable from one another. The first two orders were mechanically identical, but the second batch had redesigned water tanks with rounded top corners, and inset tops on their coal bunkers to improve rearward vision for the crew. They also had slightly smaller firebox and superheater heating areas than the engines of the first batch.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[7]

The two locomotives of the third batch were similar in general appearance to those of the second batch, but were 10 long hundredweight (508 kilograms) lighter than the engines of the first two batches, with arch tubes added in the firebox, wider cabs and 1 inch (25 millimetres) larger bore cylinders, which made them more powerful. Their engine units had a ¹⁄₂ inch (13 millimetres) longer wheelbase.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[7]

Service

They were placed in service working goods traffic on the light rail sections between Zeerust and Mafeking and between Pretoria and Pietersburg. Some were later allocated to the Natal North Coast, and a few were still later also used for a brief period to work across the Montagu Pass between George and Oudtshoorn.^[1]^[2]^[5]^[7]

Their final duties were on the Nkwalini branch in Natal, where the last survivors of the original eighteen locomotives were finally replaced by Class GEA and Class GO Garratts. The last ten Class GE locomotives were withdrawn from service in April 1975.^[5]^[7]

Knuckle couplers

From 1927, the SAR began to convert the couplers of its Cape Gauge rolling stock from the bell-shaped link-and-pin coupling system, which had been in use since the establishment of the Cape Government Railways in 1873, to AAR knuckle couplers. Conversion of all rolling stock was to take several years and both coupler types could still be seen on rolling stock into the late 1950s.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Of the locomotives depicted, no. 2269 has the older bell link-and-pin type couplers. The coupler on no. 2274 is one of the transition knuckle couplers, with a horizontal gap and a vertical hole in the knuckle itself to accommodate, respectively, a link and a pin, to enable the locomotive to couple to rolling stock which was still equipped with the older link-and-pin type couplers.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Second batch no. 2269 with bell link-and-pin couplers, c. 1930

Second batch no. 2274 with transition knuckle couplers at Stanger, c. September 1966
Third batch no. 2276 with standard knuckle couplers at Greyville, c. May 1971

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Holland, D.F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways, Volume 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 43–45. ISBN 978-0-7153-5427-8.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1946). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VII - South African Railways (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, January 1946. pp. 11-12.
1 2 3 4 5 South African Railways & Harbours/Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweë en Hawens (15 Aug 1941). Locomotive Diagram Book/Lokomotiefdiagramboek, 3'6" Gauge/Spoorwydte. SAR/SAS Mechanical Department/Werktuigkundige Dept. Drawing Office/Tekenkantoor, Pretoria. p. 33.
1 2 3 4 5 South African Railways & Harbours/Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweë en Hawens (15 Aug 1941). Locomotive Diagram Book/Lokomotiefdiagramboek, 2'0" & 3'6" Gauge/Spoorwydte, Steam Locomotives/Stoomlokomotiewe. SAR/SAS Mechanical Department/Werktuigkundige Dept. Drawing Office/Tekenkantoor, Pretoria. p. 33.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. p. 91. ISBN 0869772112.
↑ Hamilton, Gavin N., The Garratt Locomotive - Garratt Locomotives produced by Beyer, Peacock, retrieved 10 November 2012
1 2 3 4 5 Durrant, A E (1989). Twilight of South African Steam (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, London: David & Charles. p. 111. ISBN 0715386387.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class GE (2-8-2+2-8-2).

Locomotives of South Africa

Steam

7' ¼" gauge	East London 0-4-0VB Table Bay 0-4-0ST Table Bay 0-4-0T Table Bay 0-4-0WT

4' 8½" gauge	Cape 0-4-0T Blackie Cape 0-4-2 Cape 2-4-0T CGR 0-4-0ST Aid Natal 0-4-0ST Durban Natal 0-4-0WT Natal Natal 4-4-0T Perseverance

3' 6" gauge Tank engines	CGR 0-4-0ST 1873 CGR 0-4-0ST 1874 CGR 0-4-0ST 1881 CGR 0-4-0ST 1881 Coffee Pot CGR 0-6-0ST CGR 0-6-0T CGR 2-6-0ST 1900 CGR 2-6-0ST 1902 CGR 1st Class 0-4-0ST 1875 CGR 1st Class 0-4-0ST 1876 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0ST CGR 1st Class 4-4-0T CGR 2nd Class 4-4-0T CGR 3rd Class 2-6-0T CGR Railmotor CSAR Class C CSAR Class E CSAR Rack 4-6-4RT CSAR Railmotor Durban's Congella Durban's Edward Innes Durban's John Milne Durban's Sir Albert Port Elizabeth 0-4-0ST Kowie Railway 0-6-0T Kowie Railway 4-4-0T Metropolitan & Suburban 4-6-2T NGR 2-6-0T Durban & Pietermaritzburg NGR Class I 2-6-2T NGR Class K 0-4-0ST NGR Class K 0-6-0ST NGR Class K 2-6-0T NZASM 10 Tonner NZASM 13 Tonner NZASM 14 Tonner NZASM 18 Tonner NZASM 19 Tonner NZASM 32 Tonner NZASM 40 Tonner PPR 26 Tonner PPR 35 Tonner Portuguese SAR Class A SAR Class B SAR Class C SAR Class C1 SAR Class C2 SAR Class D SAR Class E SAR Class F SAR Class G SAR Class H SAR Class H1 SAR Class H2 SAR Class J SAR Class K SAR Railmotor SAR Dock 0-4-0ST SAR Dock 0-4-0T SWA 2-8-0T

3' 6" gauge Tender engines	CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 BP CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 Kitson CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1879 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1891 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0TT CGR 2nd Class 2-6-2TT CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1883 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1884 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1889 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1898 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1901 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1903 CGR 4th Class 4-4-2 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1880 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 Joy CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1884 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1890 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1891 NGR Havelock NGR Class I SAR Class Exp 1 SAR Class Exp 2 SAR Class Exp 3 SAR Class Exp 4 SAR Class Exp 5 SAR Class Exp 6 SAR Class S SAR Class S1 SAR Class S2 SAR Class 1 SAR Class 1A SAR Class 1B SAR Class 2 SAR Class 2C SAR Class 3 SAR Class 3A SAR Class 3B SAR Class 4 SAR Class 4A SAR Class 5 SAR Class 5A SAR Class 5B SAR Class 6 SAR Class 6A SAR Class 6B SAR Class 6C SAR Class 6D SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6F SAR Class 6G SAR Class 6H SAR Class 6J SAR Class 6K SAR Class 6L SAR Class 6Y SAR Class 6Z SAR Class 7 SAR Class 7A SAR Class 7B SAR Class 7C SAR Class 7D SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7F SAR Class 8 SAR Class 8A SAR Class 8B SAR Class 8C SAR Class 8D SAR Class 8E SAR Class 8F SAR Class 8R SAR Class 8X SAR Class 8Y SAR Class 8Z SAR Class 9 SAR Class 10 SAR Class 10A SAR Class 10B SAR Class 10C SAR Class 10D SAR Class 11 SAR Class 12 SAR Class 12A SAR Class 12B SAR Class 13 SAR Class 14 SAR Class 14A SAR Class 14B SAR Class 14C 1st SAR Class 14C 2nd SAR Class 14C 3rd SAR Class 14C 4th SAR Class 15 SAR Class 15A SAR Class 15B SAR Class 15C SAR Class 15CA SAR Class 15E SAR Class 15F SAR Class 16 SAR Class 16A SAR Class 16B SAR Class 16C SAR Class 16D SAR Class 16DA 1928 SAR Class 16DA 1930 SAR Class 16E SAR Class 17 SAR Class 18 SAR Class 19 SAR Class 19A SAR Class 19B SAR Class 19C SAR Class 19D SAR Class 20 SAR Class 21 SAR Class 23 SAR Class 24 SAR Class 25 SAR Class 25NC SAR Class 26 SAR Katanga SWA 2-8-0

3' 6" gauge Articulated engines	CGR Fairlie CGR Kitson-Meyer SAR Class FC SAR Class FD SAR Class GA SAR Class GB SAR Class GC SAR Class GCA SAR Class GD SAR Class GDA SAR Class GE SAR Class GEA SAR Class GF SAR Class GG SAR Class GH SAR Class GK SAR Class GL SAR Class GM SAR Class GMA SAR Class GO SAR Class HF SAR Class KM SAR Class MA SAR Class MB SAR Class MC SAR Class MC1 SAR Class MD SAR Class ME SAR Class MF SAR Class MG SAR Class MH SAR Class MJ SAR Class MJ1 SAR Class U

2' 6" gauge	Cape Copper John King & Miner Cape Copper Britannia Cape Copper Caledonia Cape Copper Clara Cape Copper Condenser Cape Copper Scotia Namaqua Copper Pioneer Walvis Bay 2-4-2T Hope

2' & 600mm gauges	ACR Class NG-G16A CGR NG 0-4-0T CGR NG 0-6-0T CGR NG 4-6-2T CGR Type A 2-6-4T CGR Type C 0-4-0T NGR Class N 4-6-2T SAR Dutton SAR NG 0-4-0T SAR Class NG1 SAR Class NG2 SAR Class NG3 SAR Class NG4 SAR Class NG5 SAR Class NG6 SAR Class NG7 SAR Class NG8 SAR Class NG9 SAR Class NG10 SAR Class NG-G11 SAR Class NG-G12 SAR Class NG-G13 SAR Class NG-G14 SAR Class NG15 SAR Class NG-G16 SWA Class Ha SWA Class Hb SWA Class Hc SWA Class Hd SWA Jung SWA Zwillinge

Electric

Amcoal Class E38

Gas-electric

SAR Gas-electric

Diesel

3' 6" gauge Diesel-electric	PRASA Class Afro 4000 SAR Class DS SAR Class DS1 SAR Class 31-000 SAR Class 32-000 SAR Class 32-200 SAR Class 33-000 SAR Class 33-200 SAR Class 33-400 SAR Class 34-000 SAR Class 34-200 SAR Class 34-400 SAR Class 34-500 SAR Class 34-600 SAR Class 34-800 SAR Class 34-900 SAR Class 35-000 SAR Class 35-200 SAR Class 35-400 SAR Class 35-600 TFR Class 35-800 SAR Class 36-000 SAR Class 36-200 SAR Class 37-000 Spoornet Class 39-000 TFR Class 39-200 TFR Class 43-000 TFR Class 44-000

2' gauge Diesel-electric	SAR Class 91-000

3' 6" gauge Diesel-hydraulic	SAR Class 61-000

3' 6" gauge Electro-diesel	Spoornet Class 38-000

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