Talk:South African Class 6B 4-6-0

Content of email received from Peter Bagshawe on 9 Jul 2011
Hi Andre, Some more info on the 6A and 6B classes sold to the CF Benguela in case it may be of interest for your Wikipedia submission. When I visited the CFB in 1972 only two of the ex CGR 6th Class remained, 22 still in service at Benguela, and 24 withdrawn, but reserved for the "Museum" at Nova Lisboa Workshops. This latter loco (which was later restored by the CFB) survived recently amongst the derelict CFB locos at Huambo. There is doubt about the date of sale to the CFB with various dates between 1907 and 1910 being quoted. One loco (CGR 588) is quoted as being actually sold to Paulings in 1909, who sold on to the CFB in 1910. The CFB Loco Diagram Book has them all as entering service in 1908 (but I would not accept the Diagram Book as gospel on dates). There is also doubt about the CFB identities of these locos. My 1972 observations showed that the cylinder of 22 was stamped 5139/R218 whilst the cylinders of 24 were stamped 5274 (588). I would assume that cylinders are rarely exchanged between locos, but could be. Whatever the order, these locos are initially believed to have been numbered 18-22, later being renumbered 21-25. It may also be of interest to mention that the CFB also ordered a batch of 6th Class directly from North British Loco. These were built in 1909 and numbered 23-27, later 26-30. Finally, in the mid 1930's, in order to ease maintenance, modifications were made to the running board and brake gear. The former involved mounting the running plate higher, thus getting rid of the splashers (British Overseas Railways Historical Trust, Journal No. 8 & 9). This gave them much more of an American rather than British look. See attached photo which you may use if you wish. Regards Peter

Included here by André Kritzinger (talk) 19:21, 10 July 2011 (UTC)