| Weight | 80t 16cwt |
| Driving Wheels | 3ft 6¾ins |
| Boiler Pressure | 160psi |
| Cylinders | Outside – 17in x 23in |
| Tractive Effort | 18,660lbf |
| Valve Gear | Stephenson |
The above details are as originally built.
After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899, control of all railways in the Cape of Good Hope and the Colony of Natal remained in the hands of their civil staff, but now working in co-operation with the invading British military. As possession was gradually obtained of the lines of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, the Oranje-Vrijstaat Gouvernement-Spoorwegen (OVGS) and the Nederlandsche-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NZASM) were combined into the Imperial Military Railways (IMR). The military railway was in the hands of military and civilian staff who were appointed by the Director of Railways for the South African Field Forces, Lieutenant Colonel E.P.C. Girouard KCMG DSO RE.
Because of the damage caused during hostilities and the transportation demands of the British armed forces, a shortage of locomotives developed. In 1900, the IMR placed an order with Neilson, Reid and Company for 25 Cape class 7 locomotives which were numbered in the range from 106 to 130 upon delivery.
Also in 1900, three Cape class 7 locomotives which had been ordered before the war by the Pretoria-Pietersburg Railway (PPR), were intercepted by the IMR and placed in service. These engines had also been built by Neilson, Reid. Numbered PPR 7 to 9, these were the last locomotives to have been ordered by the PPR before it ceased to exist upon its incorporation into the NZASM, which itself was subsequently incorporated into the IMR.
One more locomotive in the group which was eventually to become the South African Railways (SAR) class 7B was part of a batch of Cape class 7 locomotives which had been built for the Rhodesia Railways (RR) by Neilson, Reid in 1899 and placed in service in Rhodesia in 1900.
The original Cape class 7 had been designed in 1892 by H.M. Beatty, Cape Government Railways (Western System) Locomotive Superintendent. All these locomotives were built to the same design as the 1896 to 1898 batch of engines of the Cape Government Railways (CGR) with their increased heating capacity and type ZC bogie-wheeled tenders, which were later to be designated class 7A on the SAR.
After the cessation of hostilities on 1 June 1902, the IMR was transferred to civil control on the 1st July 1902 and renamed the Central South African Railways (CSAR). The IMR and PPR class 7 locomotives were renumbered by the CSAR in the ranges from 373 to 397 and 398 to 400 respectively.
In 1906, three of these locomotives, CSAR numbers 384, 389 and 393, were sold to the Natal Government Railways (NGR), who used them to work on the Harrismith-Bethlehem section in the Orange River Colony (ORC) on the mainline from Ladysmith to Bloemfontein. They were designated the NGR class L and renumbered in the range from 327 to 329.
When the Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, the three Colonial government railways (CGR, NGR and 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.
When all of these locomotives, with three exceptions, were assimilated into the SAR in 1912, they were renumbered in the ranges from 1032 to 1034, 1036 to 1039 and 1041 to 1058, all designated class 7B.
- The first two of the exceptions were ex IMR numbers 106 and 113 (later CSAR numbers 376 and 383), had been leased to Pauling and Company in 1911 for use on a construction contract. They were only returned to the SAR in January 1913 and then received the numbers 1035 and 1040 respectively. These numbers had apparently been reserved for them even though the numbers were not listed in the 1912 renumbering tables.
- Two locomotives which returned to South Africa from Rhodesia around. 1915 were incorrectly classified, possibly as a result of their records getting exchanged in an apparent administrative error. Each received the class designation and engine number meant for the other.
- IMR no. 110 would have become CSAR nunmber 380 in 1902 but never did, since it had already been transferred to the Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways (BMR) at Umtali in March 1901 as replacement for a war-damaged locomotive. In Rhodesia, it was renumbered to MR number 19. When it was eventually sold back to South Africa and taken onto the SAR stock in 1915, it was incorrectly designated class 7D instead of class 7B and renumbered 1355.
- In 1915, the sole ex RR locomotive was brought onto the SAR’s class 7B stock as SAR number 949. It had started its service life as RR number 1 and was renumbered twice in Rhodesia. In the 1901 Rhodesian renumbering it was renumbered to MR number 8 on the BMR. In the 1906 Rhodesian renumbering it was renumbered again, this time to 63 on the Rhodesia Railways Northern Extensions (RRM, operating north and east of Bulawayo). This locomotive was part of the same batch of ex RR locomotives of which some became SAR class 7D and it was therefore incorrectly designated class 7B.
Other 7th Class locomotives which came onto the SAR stock from the Colonial and other railways in the region (the CGR, the NGR, some from the RR and, in 1925, from the New Cape Central Railways) were grouped into six different sub-classes by the SAR, becoming SAR classes 7, 7A and 7C to 7F.
Beginning in 1904, many of these locomotives were equipped with larger cabs, which gave less cramped working conditions and better regard for the comfort and health of engine crews who worked under the trying conditions of the Transvaal Lowveld.
One locomotive (CSAR 381 and later SAR 1058) was also reboilered with a larger round-topped boiler. The reboilered locomotive was reportedly also equipped with Drummond tubes in its firebox, but these were found to be unsatisfactory and were soon removed. The larger boiler enabled the locomotive to take the handle loads which were 29% greater than the legitimate load of the locomotive as introduced. The practice of replacing original boilers with larger boilers of greater weight, capacity and operating steam pressure did not always produce satisfactory results. Problems were experienced with overloaded bearings and loose crank pins which led to a decision not to convert any of the others.
During the 1930s, many of the class 7 series locomotives were equipped with superheated boilers and piston valves. On the classes 7B and 7C, this conversion was sometimes indicated with an S suffix to the class number on the locomotive number plates, but on the rest of the class 7 family this distinction was rarely applied. The superheated versions could be identified by the position of the chimney on the smokebox. The chimney was displaced forward to provide space behind it in the smokebox for the superheater header.
In SAR service, the class 7 series worked on every system in the country. They remained in branch line service until they were finally withdrawn in 1972.
In 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the German South West Africa colony was occupied by the Union Defence Forces. Since a large part of the territory’s railway infrastructure and rolling stock was destroyed or damaged by retreating German forces, an urgent need arose for locomotives for use on the Cape gauge lines in that territory. In 1917, numbers 1042 to 1044, 1051 and 1052 were transferred to the Defence Department for service in South West Africa.
These five locomotives remained in South West Africa after the war. They proved to be so successful in that territory, that more were gradually transferred there in later years. By 1949, 53 locomotives of the class 7 family were still in use there. Most remained in SWA and were only transferred back to South Africa when they were replaced by diesel-electric locomotives in 1961.
In 1966, two class 7B locomotives (SAR 1037 & 1040) and two class 7 and four class 7A locomotives, were sold to the Zambesi Saw Mills (ZSM) in Zambia. The company worked the teak forests which stretched 100 miles to the northwest of Livingstone, where it built one of the longest logging railways in the world to serve its sawmill at Mulobezi. These eight locomotives joined eight ex RR class 7 locomotives which had been acquired by the ZSM between 1925 and 1956.
Railway operations ceased at Mulobezi around 1972, whilst operation of the line to Livingstone was taken over by the Zambia Railways in 1973. While most of the class 7 series locomotives remained at Mulobezi out of use, class 7A number 1021 and class 7B number 1040 were installed as stationary boilers at the Livingstone factory to supply steam for curing wood. 1040 was still in use in that role in October 1995, when it was found in steam.
Preservation
Neilson, Reid and Company Works No 5830 – IMR 123, CSAR 389, NGR 328 & SAR 1056
This locomotive was built by Neilson, Reid and Company in Glasgow in 1900 as one of the 25 locomotives ordered by the Imperial Military Railways (IMR).
It ran on the IMR as number 123 before coming under the Central South African Railways (CSAR) number 389 in July 1902 following the end of the Boer war.
In 1906 its ownership passed to the Natal Government Railways (NGR) as number 328 before being taken into the South Africa Railways (SAR) as number 1056 in 1912.
At some time during the 1930s the locomotive was fitted with a superheated boiler and reclassified as a class 7BR engine.
Following being taken out of service the locomotive worked some Transnet special trains.
The locomotive is part of the national collection in is on static display in Outeniqua Transport Museum in George.
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