Red Devil - Inaugural Run - Part Four - Towed Home

Sunday, July 15th 2018.

Now out of commission, the Red Devil remained in steam to meet braking requirements and the excursion continued with help of two 35 class diesel locomotives.

Following a late arrival the previous evening the train departed Robertson on Sunday morning for Overhex Winery so the passengers could have brunch.

Tired and in need of rest we decided not to chase this leg opting instead to start our chase as the train departed Overhex Winery. What followed was a pretty standard train chase along the cape mainline back to Cape Town.

We ultimately concluded the weekend on the outskirts of Kraaifontein, the light by then was fading fast and the wind had blasted us all day. Driving straight through to town we waited for the train to catch up to us where all involved greeted and parted ways.

South African Class 26, No 3450 affectionately known as the Red Devil originally started life as a standard class 25 Non-condenser built by Henschel in 1953, works number 28769.

The class initially suffered a number of teething problems with their connecting rod bearings and valve gear. This led to a redesign of the cross-heads and the fitment of larger bearings from other manufacturers.

The NCs soon went on to prove themselves as some of South Africa's most capable and reliable mainline steam locomotives with many seeing service well into the early 1990s. They are still considered one of the largest non-articulated narrow gauge steam locomotives ever built.

Political motivations, strategic locomotive reserve or the looming oil crisis are a discussion for another time and place. I believe it worth mentioning that the Red Devil existence can almost exclusively be attributed to David Wardale, Livio Porta and the many workshop and footplate personnel that took interest in the project and not necessarily the SAR.

Wardale's work was met with a fair amount of resistance from the SAR hierarchy with many believing the project to be a waste of time and money on traction that they already considered obsolete. Many also believed that steam had reached its full potential and weren't keen to accept that their own work could be improved upon. If it wasn't for Wardales's rather ask for forgiveness than permission approach the project most likely would have seen untimely demise.

With that being said the Red Devil wasn't perfect, prototypes seldom are, but it proved the principles were sound and the hope was that it would lead to the development of an entirely new class designed from the ground up deploying those principles.

Despite the time and effort invested in its creation, the Red Devil was simply too complicated and soon fell out of favour with maintenance and footplate crews. Many of them simply refused to learn how to operate it correctly and this quickly lead to a false perception that the locomotive was a poor performer and no better than a standard 25NC.

With Wardale leaving the SAR and nobody to look after it, crews took it upon themselves to remove many of the modifications some of which were specially manufactured. There are however a number of structural modifications that could not be removed and these are still visible on the locomotive today.

Wardale's book is a must-read for any serious enthusiast, if not for the story, read it for the truth. The improvements done during its conversion ultimately lead to 28% coal saving, 30% water saving and a 43% increase in drawbar power. During its peak, the Red Devil had a maximum power output of 5030 hp at 100km/h.

3450 has been in storage for nearly two decades but has now been leased by Ceres Rail Company.

List of improvements.

Lempor exhaust.
Addition of ten super heater flues and elements.
Larger super heater header salvage from GMA.
Feed water heater.
Lengthened smokebox.
Improved cylinder and valve lining lubrication system.
Piston valves.
Articulated valve spindles.
Valve liner cooling system.
Streamlined steam ports.
Herdner starting valves.
Altered Walschaerts valve gear.
Enlarged steam chests.
Improvement steam pipes
Improved pistons
Improved piston and valve rod packings.
Improved insulation.
Variable stroke lubricator drive.

Further Reading: Red Devil -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_A...
Ceres Rail Company - http://www.ceresrail.co.za/