South West African Jung
No. 9 plinthed in Tsumeb, 17 February 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The South West African Jung 0-6-2T of 1904 was a narrow gauge steam locomotive from the Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika era.
In 1904, the Otavi Mining and Railway Company in Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika acquired fifteen 0-6-2 tank locomotives from Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik in Germany. Two of them survived the First World War to be taken onto the South African Railways roster in 1922.[1][2][3]
The Otavi Railway
Construction of the 600 millimetres (23.62 inches) narrow gauge Otavi Railway in Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika (DSWA), which heads northeastward from Swakopmund via Usakos and Otjiwarongo, commenced in November 1903. The 351 miles (565 kilometres) long line was completed through Otavi and on to Tsumeb in August 1906, with a 56 miles (90 kilometres) long branchline from Otavi to Grootfontein. From Swakopmund to Usakos, the line ran more or less parallel and to the north of the original Swakopmund-Windhuk Staatsbahn or Nordbahn, which had been constructed from 1897.[3][4]
In 1905, a short 14 kilometres (9 miles) branchline was constructed from Onguati near Usakos on the Otavi line to Karibib on the Nordbahn, to create an alternative line from Windhoek to the Atlantic Ocean at times when the Nordbahn's section through the Khan River gorge suffered from the occasional flooding.[3][4]
The Otavi Railway, the longest narrow gauge railway in the world, was an industrial enterprise of the Otavi Mining and Railway Company. The line was constructed by Messrs. Arthur Koppel and Company at a cost of about £2,400 per mile. It was well-built, with a ruling gradient of about 1 in 66 (1½%) and minimum curvature of 150 metres (492 feet). The tracks were laid with 30 pounds per yard (15 kilograms per metre) steel rails on 26 pounds (12 kilograms) steel sleepers. From sea level at Swakopmund, the line rose to an altitude of 3,500 feet (1,067 metres) at Ebony, then dropped to an altitude of 2,640 feet (805 metres) at Usakos and then rose to its highest elevation of 5,200 feet (1,585 metres) at Kalkveld.[4]
On 1 April 1910, the Otavi Railway and its assets were purchased by the German Administration for £1,000,000, under a lease agreement in terms of which the mining company would continue to operate the line for a further ten years, while the problematic Khan River section of the Nordbahn line could finally be abandoned.[3][4]
Manufacturer
The first mainline locomotives for the Otavi Railway were fifteen 0-6-2 tank steam locomotives, numbered in the range from 1 to 15, which were built by Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik in Germany in 1904.[1][2]
Characteristics
They used Walschaerts valve gear to actuate "D" type slide valves and were built on 5⁄8 inch (16 millimetres) thick plate frames which were arranged outside the coupled and trailing wheels. Their coal bunkers had a capacity of 15 long hundredweight (0.8 tonnes), while their side tanks carried 770 imperial gallons (3,500 litres) of water.[2]
Service
Until the line was completed in 1906, these locomotives also served as construction engines. Since the Otavi line traversed the Namib Desert, the engines were often seen with rectangular auxiliary water tenders in tow.[1][2][3]
During the First World War, the former German Colony came under South African administration and the railways in DSWA came under control of the Union Defence Forces. Control of all railway operations in South West Africa (SWA) was passed on from the Military to the Director of Railways in Windhoek on 1 August 1915. On 1 April 1922, all the railway lines and rolling stock in the territory became part of the South African Railways (SAR), but the SWA locomotives were never reclassified or renumbered and retained their former German identities until they were withdrawn from service.[1]
Two of the Jung locomotives survived into the SAR era, no. 1 and no. 13, the rest by then having either been scrapped or, like no. 9 which is preserved at Tsumeb, sold to industry. Both SAR locomotives had been modified to tank-and-tender engines for use on the Otavi Railway's fast passenger service. Their coal bunkers were removed and they were equipped with tenders, supplied by Henschel and Son, which ran on four-wheeled bogies and had a capacity of 2 long tons 10 hundredweight (2.5 tonnes) coal and 1,188 imperial gallons (5,400 litres) water. Similar tenders had been fitted to modified Class Ha locomotives.[1][2][3]
Works numbers
The locomotive numbers and Jung works numbers are listed in the table.[5]
Loco no. |
Works no. |
---|---|
1 | 707 |
2 | 708 |
3 | 709 |
4 | 710 |
5 | 711 |
6 | 712 |
7 | 713 |
8 | 714 |
9 | 715 |
10 | 716 |
11 | 804 |
12 | 805 |
13 | 806 |
14 | 807 |
15 | 808 |
Illustration
- Jung 0-6-2T no. 9 at Tsumeb, left side
- Jung engine and tender, c. 1905
- Jung locomotive on a work train, c. 1906
- Jung 0-6-2T no. 1 on a work train near Tsumeb, c. 1931
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. p. 115. ISBN 0869772112.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1947). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VII - South African Railways (Continued). South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, October 1947. pp. 859-860.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dulez, Jean A. (2012). Railways of Southern Africa 150 Years (Commemorating One Hundred and Fifty Years of Railways on the Sub-Continent - Complete Motive Power Classifications and Famous Trains - 1860-2011) (1st ed.). Garden View, Johannesburg, South Africa: Vidrail Productions. pp. 235, 379–382. ISBN 9 780620 512282.
- 1 2 3 4 Espitalier, T.J.; Day, W.A.J. (1947). The Locomotive in South Africa - A Brief History of Railway Development. Chapter VII - South African Railways (Continued). South West Africa. South African Railways and Harbours Magazine, August 1947. p. 667.
- ↑ Jung works list, compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Bernhard Schmeiser
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