South African Class 12A 4-8-2

The South African Railways Class 12A 4-8-2 of 1919 was a Mountain type steam locomotive of which the railways placed 67 in service between 1919 and 1929, with eight more built for industrial use between 1947 and 1953. Forty-eight came from the North British Locomotive Company in Scotland and nineteen from Henschel and Son in Kassel. At the time they were the largest Mountain type permissible on Cape gauge, and were designed to supplement the Class 12 on the Witbank to Germiston coal line. From 1943 forty-four were reboilered with massive boilers designed by M.M. Loubser and reclassified Class 12AR, with a longer smokebox that gave them a distinctive appearance.