South African type ET tender

Type ET tenders were built in 1947 and 1948 by North British Locomotive Company (NBL).^[1][2]

The South African Railways (SAR) placed its last batch of 100 Class 15F locomotives in service in 1947 and 1948. The original Class 15F locomotive and tender had been designed in 1938 by W.A.J. Day, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1936 to 1939, while this last version was built to modified designs by Doctor M.M. Loubser, who succeeded Day as CME in 1939. These 100 engines and their tenders were equipped with mechanical stokers.^[1][2][3]

The tender rode on four-wheeled bogies and was virtually identical to the earlier Type JT tender, but equipped with a mechanical stoker. Like the Type JT, it also had a 14 long tons (14.2 tonnes) coal capacity and a maximum axle load of 17 long tons 15 hundredweight (18,030 kilograms), but a 380 imperial gallons (1,730 litres) smaller water capacity of 5,620 imperial gallons (25,500 litres) to accommodate the mechanical stoker mechanism, while its empty weight was 1,232 pounds (559 kilograms) more due to the additional stoking equipment. These appear to have been the only differences between the Types JT and ET tenders.^[3][6]

Only the last batch of 100 Class 15F locomotives, built by NBL, were delivered new with Type ET tenders, which were numbered in the range from 3057 to 3156 for their engines. An oval number plate, bearing the engine number and often also the locomotive class and tender type, was attached to the rear end of the tenders.^[1][4][5]