| Weight | 117t 12cwt |
| Driving Wheels | 5ft 1ins |
| Boiler Pressure | 200psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 19in x 28in |
| Tractive Effort | 24,860lbf |
| Valve Gear | Stephenson |
The details above are for the class 5 locomotives as originally built.
The Cape Government Railways (CGR), Natal Government Railways (NGR) and Central South African Railways (CSAR) had all prepared designs and placed orders for new locomotives shortly prior to 1912, when the South African Railways (SAR) locomotive classification and renumbering scheme was implemented.
The CGR’s Enlarged Karoo, designed by H.M. Beatty, the Cape Government Railways Chief Locomotive Superintendent and built by Vulcan Foundry of Newton-le-Willows, was one of the locomotive types which were designed and ordered before the SAR was established and which ended up being delivered to the newly established national railways of the Union of South Africa. The locomotives were designated class 5 and numbered in the range from 780 to 783. They entered service during November 1912.
During 1935 one of the locomotives (SAR 781) was reboilered with a Watson Standard no. 1 boiler and reclassified to class 5R. During the reboilering process, the engine was also equipped with a superheater and underwent several other modifications. It was fitted with larger bore cylinders similar to those of the class 15B, with piston valves and by-pass valves. The diameter of the coupled wheels was increased from 61 to 62. Their original boilers were fitted with Ramsbottom safety valves, while the Watson Standard boiler was fitted with Pop safety valves. Even though the boiler pressure setting of the reboilered engine was lowered from 200 to 190psi, the tractive effort increased from 24,860 to 25,750 lbf.
The engines were placed in service on mainline passenger service between Cape Town and Touws River, where they remained until the loads became too heavy for them. From about 1928, they were used on secondary services, chiefly being employed to haul suburban passenger trains from Cape Town to the Strand and Stellenbosch.
Three of the locomotives were withdrawn from service in 1942 but the fourth (SAR 781) remained in service for a further 27 years.
Preservation
Vulcan Foundry Works No 2777 – SAR 783
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