Walvis Bay 2-4-2T

Walvis Bay 2-4-2T Hope
The engine Hope plinthed in Windhoek, c. 1950
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Kerr, Stuart and Company Builder Kerr, Stuart and Company Serial number 652 Build date 1899 Total produced 1
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-4-2T (Columbia)  • UIC 1B1n2t Driver 2nd coupled axle Gauge 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) Namaqualand Leading dia. 14 in (356 mm) Coupled dia. 24 in (610 mm) Trailing dia. 14 in (356 mm) Frame type Plate Loco weight 12 LT (12,190 kg) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 5 long hundredweight (0.3 t) Water cap 100 imp gal (455 l) Firebox type Round-top  • Firegrate area 3.5 sq ft (0.33 m2) Boiler: ​  • Diameter 2 ft 1 in (635 mm)  • Tube plates 5 ft 1 in (1,549 mm)  • Small tubes 36: 1 3⁄4 in (44 mm) Boiler pressure 120 psi (827 kPa) Heating surface 102 sq ft (9.5 m2) Cylinders Two Cylinder size 6 in (152 mm) bore 10 in (254 mm) stroke Valve gear Stephenson Valve type Murdoch's D slide Couplers Buffers-and-chain
Performance figures Tractive effort 1,020 lbf (4.5 kN) @ 75%
Career Operators Walvis Bay Railway Number in class 1 Official name Hope Delivered 1899 First run 1899 Disposition Plinthed at Walvis Bay station

The Walvis Bay 2-4-2T Hope of 1899 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1899, the Walvis Bay Tramway in the British territory of Walvis Bay, a Cape of Good Hope exclave in German South West Africa, placed a single tank locomotive with a 2-4-2 Columbia type wheel arrangement in service. It remained in service until 1915, when a Cape gauge railway was opened between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.

The British territory surrounding the port of Walvis Bay in Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika (DSWA), an exclave with an area of 434 square miles (1,124 square kilometres), was administered as part of the Cape of Good Hope. The Walvis Bay railway began as a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge horse-drawn tramway within the confines of the harbour town. The gauge was most probably selected to ensure a wide enough path for horses between the rails, as was probably also the case on the light mule-drawn Namaqualand Railway which was built to the same gauge between Port Nolloth and O'okiep in northwestern Cape of Good Hope.

In June 1899, a single small side-tank locomotive with a 2-4-2 Columbia type wheel arrangement was shipped from Kerr, Stuart and Company of Stoke-on-Trent in England. It arrived in Walvis Bay on 22 August 1899 aboard the barque Primera, along with a distilling plant, railway trucks and 200 tons of coal. The engine was named Hope and was placed in service on the short Walfish Bay Tramway.

The locomotive was a standard Sirdar class engine, similar to the two Class NG1 0-4-0T locomotives which were to enter service on the Bezuidenhout Light Railway a year later during the Second Boer War, but with leading and trailing pony wheels added and a tropical cab roof. Kerr, Stuart was a supplier of contractor's engines and often built locomotives to standard designs, but without frame stretchers and axles. These semi-completed locomotives were kept in stock until an order was placed. This allowed them to be delivered with a minimum of delay.