In 1888 the Natal Government Railways placed the first five of its eventual one hundred Dübs A Class 4-8-2T tank steam locomotives in service. The last of the one hundred, built in ten batches, was delivered by Dübs and Company in 1899. As far as is known, the Dübs A locomotives were the first in the world to have a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement, later to become known as the Mountain type. In 1912, when these locomotives were assimilated into the South African Railways, they were renumbered in the range from 97 to 196 and reclassified to Class A. In 1915 another two Class A locomotives were built from spare parts by the South African Railways and numbered 332 and 333.
See also the Wikipedia article on the South African Class A 4-8-2T. |