South African type JT tender

South African type JT tender

Type JT tender on Class 16E, 18 September 2015

Type and origin Locomotive Class 15E, Class 15F, Class 16E Designer South African Railways (A.G. Watson) Builder Berliner Maschinenbau Beyer, Peacock and Company Henschel and Son North British Locomotive Company Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns In service 1935-1946

Specifications Configuration 2-axle bogies Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge Length 30 ft 9 7⁄16 in (9,384 mm) Wheel dia. 34 in (864 mm) Wheelbase 20 ft 5 in (6,223 mm)  • Bogie 6 ft 2 in (1,880 mm) Axle load 17 LT 15 cwt (18,030 kg)  • Front bogie 33 LT 18 cwt (34,440 kg)  • Rear bogie 35 LT 10 cwt (36,070 kg) Weight empty 66,416 lb (30,126 kg) Weight w/o 69 LT 8 cwt (70,510 kg) Fuel type Coal Fuel cap. 14 LT (14.2 t) Water cap. 6,000 imp gal (27,300 l) Stoking Manual Couplers Drawbar & AAR knuckle

Career Operators South African Railways Numbers SAR 854-859, 2858-3056

The South African type JT tender was a steam locomotive tender.

Type JT tenders first entered service in 1935 as tenders to the Class 15E 4-8-2 Mountain and Class 16E 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotives which were placed in service by the South African Railways in that year. Until 1946, more entered service as tenders to more Class 15E and the Class 15F.

Type JT tenders were built between 1935 and 1945 by Berliner Maschinenbau, Beyer, Peacock and Company, Henschel and Son, North British Locomotive Company and Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns.

In 1935, the South African Railways (SAR) placed six Class 16E express passenger steam locomotives in service, numbered in the range from 854 to 859. The engines and tenders were built by Henschel to the design of A.G. Watson, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the SAR at the time, and were initially placed in service at Kimberley to work named trains like the Union Limited and the Union Express southwards to Beaufort West and northwards to Johannesburg respectively.

In the same year, the first twenty Class 15E locomotives entered service, built by Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns, numbered in the range from 2858 to 2877 and nicknamed Bongol.

The Type JT first entered service as tenders to these two locomotive classes. Between 1935 and 1946, more entered service as tenders to the Classes 15E and 15F.

The original Type JT tenders were arranged for manual stoking. On tenders which were delivered between 1939 and 1945 with Class 15F numbers 2923 to 3056, provision was made in the design to convert them to mechanical stoking later. These were built by North British and Beyer, Peacock to the design and specifications of W.A.J. Day, who succeeded A.G. Watson as CME in 1936. A mechanical stoker was later tested on no. 2923, before the remaining locomotives of this group were all equipped with mechanical stokers by the late 1940s.