South African Class 24 2-8-4

The South African Railways Class 24 2-8-4 of 1949 was a light branch line steam locomotive with a Berkshire wheel arrangement. It was designed by Dr M.M. Loubser, the railways Chief Mechanical Engineer, for track too light for heavier engines, and the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow delivered 100 of them in 1949 and 1950, numbered 3601 to 3700. Number 3675 was the 2,000th locomotive that the builder supplied to South African Railways and was named Bartholomew Diaz in Cape Town. The engines had a one-piece cast steel frame cast with the cylinders, made by General Steel Castings in the United States, and were the first South African steam locomotives built that way. Most worked in South West Africa.