South African Class 23 4-8-2 South African Class 23 4-8-2 The South African Railways Class 23 4-8-2 of 1938 was a steam locomotive. In 1938 and 1939, the South African Railways placed 136 Class 23 steam locomotives in service. The Class 23 was the last and the largest 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotive to be designed by the South African Railways. The Class 23 4-8-2 Mountain type steam locomotive was designed by W.A.J. Day, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1936 to 1939. It was intended as a general utility locomotive, capable of operating on rail, and was built in two
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