South African Class 1A 4-8-0

The South African Railways Class 1A 4-8-0 was a class of 21 improved Class B Mastodon type 4-8-0 tender steam locomotives, ordered by the Natal Government Railways in 1909 for goods work on the lower sections of the Natal mainline and built by the North British Locomotive Company. They were delivered and placed in service in 1910 with Type TJ tenders and numbered 13 to 33. Officially still Class B, they became commonly known as the Class Improved Hendrie B because they incorporated various improvements on the locomotives of 1904, including boilers raised by 1.25 inches, while keeping Belpaire fireboxes with combustion chambers and Walschaerts valve gear. When the Natal Government Railways were assimilated into the South African Railways in 1912 they were renumbered 1289 to 1309 and designated Class 1A. New, they hauled fast passenger and goods trains between Durban and Pietermaritzburg; later they worked out of Port Elizabeth and were relegated to shunting, and the last was retired by the railway in November 1974. Number 1301 survived in industrial service as Apex Mines no. 3 at Greenside in 1984 and was donated in 2019 to the UK based North British Locomotive Preservation Group.