South African Class 25NC 4-8-4

The South African Railways Class 25NC 4-8-4 of 1953 was the non-condensing version of the Class 25 condensing Northern type locomotive, built between 1953 and 1955 for the South African Railways. The South African Railways designed the engines under L.C. Grubb, with Henschel of Kassel designing the condensing apparatus of the Class 25 sister engine. Eleven, numbered 3401 to 3411, came from the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow and 39 from Henschel. They had superheaters, piston valves with Walschaerts valve gear, Timken roller bearings throughout and a tender with a mechanical stoker. From 1973 to 1980 all but three of the condensing engines were converted to non-condensing and also became Class 25NC.