South African Class 24 2-8-4 South African Class 24 2-8-4 The South African Railways Class 24 2-8-4 of 1949 is a steam locomotive. In 1949 and 1950, the South African Railways placed 100 branch line steam locomotives with a 2-8-4 Berkshire type wheel arrangement in service. By the late 1940s, the South African Railways (SAR) still had a comparatively large mileage of track. In South West Africa, where most of the locomotive fleet consisted of Classes 6, 7, GC and GCA, there were still hundreds of miles of track. Considering the increasing age of these locomotives, the options were either to relay these tracks with
2-8-8-8-8-8-2 2-8-8-8-8-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-8-8-8-2 has two leading wheels, five sets of eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. Because of its length, such a locomotive must be an articulated locomotive. It is not longer than a normal articulated; the fourth and fifth sets of drivers are located under the tender. Other equivalent classifications are: UIC classification: 1-D-D-D-D-D-1 (also known as German classification and Italian classification) AAR classification: 1-D-D-D-D-D-1 French classification: 140+040+040+040+041 Turkish classification: 45+44+44+44+45 Swiss classification: 4/5+4/4+4/4+4/4+4/5 The equivalent UIC classification is to be refined to (1'D)DDD(D1'). The Baldwin Locomotive Works