South African Class 15A 4-8-2

The South African Railways Class 15A 4-8-2 of 1914 was a steam locomotive. Between 1914 and 1925 the railways placed 119 Class 15A locomotives with a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement in service, delivered in ten batches from three manufacturers. The Classes 15 and 15A were the final development of the plate-framed 4-8-2 Mountain locomotive designed by D.A. Hendrie, who was the railways' chief mechanical engineer from 1910 to 1922, and the 15A was the most numerous and, the article says, his most useful. The North British Locomotive Company delivered many of the batches, beginning with five in July 1914 and continuing through 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920 and 1921. Steel fireboxes were replaced with copper ones after water treatment problems.