South African Class NG15 2-8-2 - Relocation

Relocation

In SWA the Otavi Class Hd, Class NG5 and Class NG15 Mikado locomotives operated in a common pool. In 1960, when all the SWA narrow gauge lines were widened to Cape gauge, the Class Hd and Class NG5 locomotives were retired, while the twenty-one Class NG15 locomotives were all purchased by the SAR and relocated to the Langkloof line between Port Elizabeth and Avontuur. In the Langkloof the Class NG15 was nicknamed "Kalahari", inappropriately so since its previous stamping ground was across the Namib desert, not in the Kalahari.

When it was first introduced on the Avontuur line, the Class NG15 was not allowed to work beyond Humansdorp from Port Elizabeth because of a lack of turning facilities in the Langkloof. This was rectified by the construction of a triangle at the end of the line at Avontuur, something that until then had not been required in the Langkloof since it had been the domain of bi-directional Garratt locomotives.

In the last years of steam traction on the Avontuur line the Class NG15 was unique in being the only non-Garratt steam locomotive working in the Langkloof. Outside the apple season the Class NG15 became well known for hauling the Apple Express from the Humewood Road railway station in Port Elizabeth to Loerie and back every Saturday to cater for tourists. It gained further fame when the Apple Express instituted an annual train race marathon where athletes could compete against an Apple Express filled with spectators.

The builders, works numbers and SAR renumberings of the Class NG15 locomotives are set out in the table below.