South African 0-4-0ST 1903
Lua error in Module:Infobox at line 314: malformed pattern (missing ']').
The South African Railways 0-4-0ST of 1903 is a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.
Two 0-4-0 saddle-tank locomotives named Thebus and Stormberg that were originally built for the Irrigation Department of the Public Works Department of the Cape of Good Hope in 1903, were acquired by the South African Railways in 1916 for use as harbour shunting engines. In railway service they were named instead of being classified and numbered.[1][2]
Contents
Origin
During World War I, when the South African Railways (SAR) experienced an acute shortage of locomotive power, it acquired a number of locomotives from private concerns and other government departments.[1][2]
The Public Works Department (PWD) of the Cape Province had two locomotives, used by the Irrigation Department, that it could spare. These two were donated to the SAR in 1916. Numbered l and 2 by the PWD, they were 0-4-0ST saddle-tank locomotives that had been built by Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited in 1903.[1][2][3]
Names
The locomotives were not classified or numbered by the SAR and were named instead. The first was named Thebus, after the town Teebus on the line between Stormberg and Rosmead on the Cape Midland System, while the second was named Stormberg after the town of that name on the Cape Eastern System mainline from Springfontein to East London.[1][2]
Service
The engine Thebus spent most of its SAR service life as dock shunter at the Port Elizabeth Harbour.[2]
The locomotive Stormberg spent most of its SAR service life as a dock shunter in East London Harbour, until it was eventually semi-retired and used to test the steam-heating equipment on passenger coaches. During World War II it was transferred to Cape Town for use as a construction locomotive during the expansion works at Table Bay Harbour. From there it went to Mosselbaai to once again serve as harbour shunter, until it was transferred to Germiston in Transvaal, where it was retired and placed in storage for a number of years.[1][2]
The engine Stormberg was eventually returned to East London, where it was restored and plinthed on East London station. It eventually ended up as an exhibit in the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George. The engine Thebus was presumably scrapped.[1]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Cite error: Invalid <references>
tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.
<references />
, or <references group="..." />
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Harbour locomotives (0-4-0ST). |
- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from September 2013
- Use South African English from September 2013
- All Wikipedia articles written in South African English
- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Steam locomotives of South Africa
- 0-4-0 locomotives
- Hudswell Clarke locomotives
- Cape gauge railway locomotives
- Railway locomotives introduced in 1903
- 1903 in South Africa