2014-06-18 Class 25 SAR

South African locomotives are rare in Europe. No! Really? No kidding!

So when you read "Railways Restored 2013" and stumble over a picture of an 25NC, well, that gets your attention. As it turns out that particular locomotive was donated to the UK and ended up in the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. As I was in the area I decided to visit that BRC and dedicate some time to awing at the gigantic Class 25, a class that always captured my imagination.

1	2	3	4 From the front I worked my way backwards (but also tried to avoid changing lenses all the time, so the photo numers or not quite the original order)
5	6 Driver wheels 1530 mm	7 Top speed 90 km/h	8 Weight 244 tons in working order
9 and then have to guts to give her the dainty name of Janice!	10	11 This loco is massive	12
13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28
29	30	31	32
33 Unfortunately the boiler cladding was absent	34	35	36
37	38	39	40
41 The front of the fire box	42 The fire box is supported by a four wheel truck. Following the US super power principles the truck is as low as possible and with outside bearing thus maximizing the firebox and grate size.	43	44 And the fire bix is really HUGE!
45	46	47	48
49	50	51	52
53	54 The grate from the underside. The lever rocks the grate allowing the fine burnt out ashes to fall through into the ash pan.	55 And now from the locomotive...	56 .... to the tender
57 The tender is detached from the locomotive. The resulting gap allows a view on the couplingsand the stoker	58 The baffle plates in the tender	59	60 Even the tender trucks are impressive. Clearly visible the cast frames
61	62	63	64 And finally the mandatory shots, the little Finch and the bg South African
65	66	67	68