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South African Class 3B 4-8-2

class of 10 South African 4-8-2 locomotives

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 1, 2025
Entity authorityQ7565527 ↗
Source-derived summary

The South African Railways Class 3B 4-8-2 of 1912 was a steam locomotive.

In 1912, the South African Railways took delivery of ten Class 3B steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement which had been ordered by the Natal Government Railways the year before.

Manufacturer

With the experience gained from the sole experimental Class B American D locomotive, Natal Government Railways (NGR) Locomotive Superintendent D.A. Hendrie redesigned his Class Hendrie D and placed orders for ten locomotives with the North British Locomotive Company on 29 March 1911. These locomotives, which would have become the NGR's Class Superheated Hendrie D, were built in two batches of five and were all delivered in 1912 after the renumbering and reclassification of the locomotives of the constituent former Colonial railways into the South African Railways (SAR). Upon delivery, they were therefore taken directly onto the SAR roster, numbered in the range from 1479 to 1488 and designated Class 3B. The first of these engines entered service in February 1912.

Characteristics

Like the NGR Class Hendrie D which it was based on and which was later designated the SAR Class 3, the Class 3B had plate frames, Walschaerts valve gear and Belpaire fireboxes. They were the first of Hendrie's designs to have superheaters and, as a result, piston valves instead of slide valves. They also sported a new design of leading bogie with cast-steel framing and three-point suspension links.

To accommodate the redesigned cylinders and the necessary alteration to the Walschaerts valve gear, the running boards had to be raised to clear the steam chests and motion. This resulted in the gentle sweeps at either end where the running boards dropped down to the buffer beam and below the cab.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “South African Class 3B 4-8-2” as class of 10 South African 4-8-2 locomotives. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1912, 1911, 1479, 1488—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where South, African and Class can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as class of 10 South African 4-8-2 locomotives. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7565527. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1912, 1911, 1479 and 1488.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “South African Class 3B 4-8-2” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.