During the Second Boer War, the British troops urgently needed powerful tank locomotives. Since the Natal Government Railways had already procured a ten-coupled tank locomotive from British production, the Reid Tenwheeler, they used this design and ordered 35 units as well. The order was divided between Dübs and Neilson, Reid in order to achieve a larger number in a short time. A visible difference to the NGR locomotives was the weatherboard on the coal bunker, which also offered protection from the elements when reversing. The military machines also attracted attention due to the brass parts on the boiler that were always polished to a high gloss.

after the rebuild to 4-8-2T

archive SAR

The first and fifth coupled axles were designed without wheel flanges for better maneuverability, which, however, was fatal to the locomotives in some situations. Especially when reversing, there were often derailments when entering tight curves or switches because the leading coupled axle had no wheel flanges. One attempted solution was to widen the wheel tyres, but this had only limited success. Despite this problem, the engines provided valuable service during the war until they came to the CSAR at the end of the war.

after the rebuilt to 4-8-0TT

Locomotive Magazine, December 1905

In order to really improve negotiation of curves and prevent derailments, it was decided, like the NGR, to remove the fifth coupled axle and thus convert six of the locomotives into a 4-8-2T wheel arrangement. A very large distance between the fourth coupled axle and the trailing axle was now visible, and the load on the trailing axle increased from just over four to just over six tons. With the formation of South African Railways they became Class E as tank locomotives were designated with letters. They were mainly used for shunting and were retired by 1966.

A sample of the former 4-8-0TT without side tanks in November 1974 in the Albion Mines

Dennis Mitchell

Another conversion was made in 1904, initially on one engine that was intended to increase the range that was too short in the eyes of the SAR. The last coupled axle and the trailing axle were removed together with the coal bunker, the frame was shortened accordingly and an additional tender was attached. Since the water tanks on the sides of the boiler had been retained, it was the design known in English-speaking countries as "Tank and Tender" with the wheel arrangement 4-8-0TT.

Since the second rebuild was successful, all remaining 28 engines were rebuilt in the same form and provided with surplus three-axle tenders. With the SAR they received the class number 13, since tender locomotives were designated with numbers. They were mostly used in the Witwatersrand region, where they were nicknamed “wallopers”, which means “wall runners” in Afrikaans. After their decommissioning, which was completed by 1961, some examples were sold to various mine operators. Some of these locomotives were used until the 1980s, after the side tanks had been removed from some in the meantime.

In 1904, the CSAR received 15 class 10 Pacifics from North British for express service. An innovation for South Africa, they had a wide firebox that was located behind the last driving axle and above the trailing axle. Due to its suitability for poorer coal and the possible greater power, this design quickly became established. Together with the class 11 Mikados, they were at the time the heaviest locomotives ever built for the Cape Gauge. This was only possible because the CSAR had laid heavier rails weighing 80 instead of 40 pounds per yard.

In 1910 another class 10 locomotive was placed into service, now supplied by ALCO. It was used to compare the locomotives otherwise sourced from Great Britain with American ones. This locomotive had a bar frame instead of the plate frame common to British manufacturers and was delivered directly with a superheater. 

class 10D by Baldwin

SAR Museum

The 15 British machines were also retrofitted with a superheater in 1910. They were still called class 10 when renumbered by the SAR in 1912, while ALCO's single one formed class 10D. The latter was scrapped in 1931. The others were used on commuter and suburban trains from 1959 after some key main lines were electrified. They were retired by 1972 and two were preserved.

The CSAR class 10-2 is made up of Pacific tender locomotives which were primarily based on the Class 10. In 1910, five locomotives were built without and five with a Schmidt superheater. Here it was shown that the locomotives with a superheater could pull about 25 percent more. In 1911 five more were built with superheaters and in 1912 the SAR classified the two variants as class 10A and 10B. In the thirties a total of ten were fitted with the standard boiler No. 1 of A.G. Watson and renamed class 10BR. They remained in service until 1974.