Red Devil - Inaugural Run - Part Three - Failed Locomotive

The second part of Day Two.

On the afternoon of July 14th 2018, following serving and turning at the Worcester North locomotive depot.

The train then returned the way it came stopping at Rooiberg Winery so that the passengers could disembark for lunch. With no turning facilities at Robertson the train would have to travel to Ashton first for turning and then return to Robertson for the night.

Unfortunately upon our arrival in Ashton, it quickly became apparent that something was wrong with the locomotive. Down on power and with excessive steam escaping through the funnel it was quickly surmised that either the valve or piston rings had failed.

Some 35 class diesels were summoned from Worcester and the train was later returned to Robertson later on that evening. It was getting late and we decided not to wait as it would be dark by the time they arrived.

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/