|
|
NGG16 No.127 Ex-South African Railways Beyer-Garratt locomotive |
|
Max Bracher has kindly contributed this view of NGG16
No.127 on 28 July 2012, as newly delivered to the Puffing Billy Railway museum
at Menzies Creek.
|
Builder |
Manchester UK |
|
|
Builder’s Number & Year |
7428 of 1951 |
|
|
Wheel Arrangement |
2-6-2 + 2-6-2 |
|
|
No. in class |
34 |
|
|
NGG16
No.127 is one of a class of 34 modern Beyer-Garratt articulated steam
locomotives built for use on the South African Railways narrow gauge (2’) lines.
I understand No.127 and other NGG16 class locomotives were purchased in 1990 from
the South African Railways by an individual for use on the private Alfred
County Railway (ACR), which had taken responsibility for the Port Shepstone
to Harding branch line and remained in operation for freight until 2001 and passengers
until 2005. No.127
was apparently sold to an enthusiast based in the UK and overhauled at the
Alfred County Railway in 1996 for that purpose. The new owner permitted the
locomotive to be used on the ACR prior to its intended transport to the UK, but
when the time came to collect the locomotive, the deal apparently fell through. No.127
and No.151 were the last two NGG16 locomotives in operation on the Alfred
County Railway’s ‘Banana Express’ tourist passenger train which ran from Port
Shepstone to Paddock. No.127 subsequently sat in storage with many other
class members at Port Shepstone, with the owner progressively selling them
off one by one. No.127
was acquired by the Emerald Tourist Railway Board for the Puffing Billy Railway
in late 2011 and transported to Australia, together with a container load of
spare parts stripped from a derelict NGG16 remaining at Port Shepstone. The
spare parts were intended to assist in the restoration of sister NGG16 No.129
in the short term, while No.127 will provide the PBR with the option of
restoring a second NGG16 at some future stage, if required. (I have provided
more information about the South African Railways narrow-gauge lines and the
NGG16 class locomotives on the page for sister NGG16 No.129, which has been regauged to 2’6”, thoroughly
rebuilt and returned to operation on the Puffing Billy Railway.) In the
interim, No.127 is stored at the Puffing Billy Railway’s Menzies Creek Museum. Two images
of sister No.138 in steam on the Welsh Highland Railway appear below, to give
an impression of an NGG16 locomotive in operation. These images are copyright
to Barrie Hughes and originally appeared on his excellent Welsh Highland Railway
pages and are reproduced with permission. |
|||
A second view of NGG16 No.127 at Menzies Creek on 28 July 2012, courtesy of Max Bracher.
This view of 19 March
2005 shows sister NGG16 No.138 at Dinas on the Welsh
Highland Railway.
This image is copyright
Barrie Hughes and was captured on a Kodak DX6490 digital camera.
Image post processed using Iphoto+4 and displayed at 96dpi.
This view of 26 December 2004 shows NGG16 No.138 and diesel Castell Caernarfon at Ffridd Isaf curve on the Welsh Highland Railway.
This image is copyright Barrie Hughes and was taken on a Concord 3340z (3.1 Mega pixel) digital camera.
Image post processed using iPhoto Plus4 image correction technology and displayed at 96dpi
References
|
a |
Dulez,
J.A., ‘Railways of Southern Africa 150 years’, Published
by VIDRAIL Productions, 2012 |
|
b |
'Light Railways - Australia's
Magazine of Industrial & Narrow
Gauge Railways', Number 224, April 2012. Published
by Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. News item on page 35. |
|
c |
Information
provided by Trevor Heath via email, |
Page updated: 12 April 2020
|
Government Railways: |
|
|||||||||
|
Private &
Industrial Railways: |
|