| Weight | 76t 19cwt |
| Driving Wheels | 4ft 6ins |
| Boiler Pressure | 160psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 17in x 26in |
| Tractive Effort | 16,690lbf |
| Valve Gear | Stephenson |
The details above are as originally built.
The class 6 locomotive was designed at the Salt River works of the Cape Government Railways (CGR) at the same time as the class 7, both according to the specifications of Michael Stephens, at the time the Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the CGR, and under the supervision of H.M. Beatty, at the time the Locomotive Superintendent of the Cape Western System.
Between 1895 and 1897, the fifty locomotives in this second batch of the class 6 were built by Dübs (39) and Company and Sharp, Stewart and Company (11). They were delivered in 1896 and 1897, numbered in the ranges from 161 to 201 for the CGR’s Western System, 371 to 376 for the Midland System and 660 to 662 for the Eastern System.
These locomotives differed from those of the previous order by having slightly larger boilers with an increased heating surface. They were the first to be delivered with type YC tenders, which had the same coal capacity as the earlier type YB tender of 1893, but with a water capacity of 2,590 imperial gallons, compared to the 2,370 imperial gallons of the Type YB.
The four locomotives which were loaned to the IMR during the Second Boer War (11th October 1899-31st May 1902), were renumbered C501, C503, C509 and C510 for the duration of their IMR service.
In 1907 one of the locomotives was sold to the Benguela Railway in Angola and became Benguela Railway’s number 21.
When the Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, the three Colonial government railways (CGR, Natal Government Railways (NGR) and Central South African Railways (CSAR)) were united under a single administration to control and administer the railways, ports and harbours of the Union. Although the South African Railways and Harbours came into existence in 1910, the actual classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the three constituent railways were only implemented with effect from 1 January 1912.
In 1912 the remaining forty nine locomotives were assimilated into the SAR, designated class 6A and renumbered in the range from 441 to 489.
The rest of the CGR’s class 6 locomotives, together with the classes 6-L1 to 6-L3 locomotives which had been inherited by the CSAR from the Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouwerment-Spoorwegen (OVGS) via the Imperial Military Railways (IMR), were grouped into thirteen more sub-classes by the SAR. The 4-6-0 locomotives became SAR classes 6, 6B to 6H and 6J to 6L.
Several of the CSAR’s class 6-L1 to 6-L3 locomotives were modified by P.A Hyde, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the CSAR, by having their round-topped fireboxes replaced with larger boilers and Belpaire fireboxes and by having larger, more sheltered cabs installed. This conversion improved their performance tremendously and resulted in several of the classes 6, 6A and 6B locomotives being similarly modified by the SAR in later years, but without altering their classifications.
During the 1930s, many of them were modified once again, when the CME of the SAR at the time, A.G. Watson, reboilered them with round-topped fireboxes once again, but retaining the larger cabs. Once again, they retained their classifications.
The class 6 family of locomotives were introduced primarily as passenger locomotives, but when the class became displaced by larger and more powerful locomotive classes, it literally became a Jack-of-all-trades which proved itself as one of the most useful and successful locomotive classes ever to be designed at the Salt River shops. It went on to see service in all parts of the country, except in Natal, and was used on all types of traffic.
During the Second World War, sixteen of the classes 6 to 6D were transferred to the Middle East to assist with the war effort during the North African Campaign. The four class 6A locomotives in this group were numbers 465, 472, 475 and 479. They were sold to the Sudan Railways Corporation in 1942 and were renumbered in the range from M707 to M710.
Preservation
Dübs and Company Works No 3347 – CGR 174 & SAR 454
Dübs and Company Works No 3443 – CGR 182, IMR C509 & SAR 462
Dübs and Company Works No 3461 – CGR 194 & SAR 473
Sharp Stewart & Co Works No 4117 – CGR 372 & 572 & SAR 482
Back to Preserved Outside Britain – By Country
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 