South African type MS tender


The South African type MS tender was a steam locomotive tender.
Type MS tenders entered service in 1928, as tenders to the South African Class 19 4-8-2| Mountain type branchline steam locomotives which were placed in service by the South African Railways in that year.

Manufacturer

Type MS tenders were built in 1928 by Berliner Maschinenbau in Germany.
The South African Railways placed four Class 19 4-8-2 Mountain type branchline locomotives in service in 1928. The engines and tenders were designed under the direction of Col F.R. Collins DSO, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the SAR, by Research and Test Engineer M.M. Loubser, himself later to be appointed as CME. The locomotives were placed in service on the line between Kimberley and Vryburg, but they eventually spent their later working years at Empangeni and on the Bergville branch in Natal. The Type MS entered service as tenders to these locomotives.

Characteristics

The tender had a coal capacity of, a water capacity of and a maximum axle load of.

Locomotive

Only the four Class 19 locomotives were delivered new with Type MS tenders, which were numbered for their engines in the range from 1366 to 1369. An oval number plate, bearing the engine number and often also the tender type, was attached to the rear end of the tender.

Classification letters

Since many tender types are interchangeable between different locomotive classes and types, a tender classification system was adopted by the SAR. The first letter of the tender type indicates the classes of engines to which it could be coupled. The "M_" tenders could be used with the locomotive classes as shown, although in some cases, engine drawbars and intermediate emergency chains had to be replaced or adjusted to suit the target locomotive.
The second letter indicates the tender's water capacity. The "_S" tenders had a capacity of.