South African type XM2 tender

Type XM2 tenders were built between 1904 and 1912 by Beyer, Peacock & Company, North British Locomotive Company and Vulcan Foundry. More Type XM2 tenders were subsequently ordered from Robert Stephenson & Company.^[1]

The Central South African Railways (CSAR) placed 15 Class 10 Pacific type and 36 Class 11 Mikado type locomotives in service in 1904. Both locomotives and the tender were designed by P.A. Hyde, Chief Locomotive Superintendent of the CSAR.^[1][2][3]

The Type XM2 first entered service as tenders to these two locomotive Classes. The Class 10 was acquired to work the passenger trains on the Natal and Cape mainlines out of Johannesburg, while the Class 11 entered service on the Reef to haul coal between Germiston and Witbank.^[1][2][3][4]

The tender had a coal capacity of 10 long tons (10.2 tonnes) and a water capacity of 4,000 imperial gallons (18,200 litres), with a maximum axle load of 12 long tons 11 hundredweight (12,750 kilograms).^[1][2][3]

In the South African Railways (SAR) years, tenders were numbered for the engines they were delivered with. In most cases, an oval number plate, bearing the engine number and tender type, would be attached to the rear end of the tender. During the classification and renumbering of locomotives onto the SAR roster in 1912, no separate classification and renumbering list was published for tenders, which should have been renumbered according to the locomotive renumbering list.^[1][3]

Five locomotive classes were delivered new with Type XM2 tenders. Bearing in mind that tenders could and did migrate between engines, these tenders should have been renumbered in the SAR number ranges as shown.^[1][3][5]

• 1904: CSAR Class 10, SAR Class 10, numbers 732 to 746.
• 1904: CSAR Class 11, SAR Class 11, numbers 912 to 947.
• 1910: CSAR Class 10-2 Saturated, SAR Class 10A, numbers 747 to 751.
• 1910: CSAR Class 10-2 Superheated, SAR Class 10B, numbers 752 to 761.
• 1912: SAR Class 5, numbers 780 to 783.

Soon after entering service in 1910, the CSAR Class 10-C light Pacific locomotives, acquired for suburban working, were found to be capable of handling mainline passenger trains. To better equip them for mainline working, an order for twelve new Type XM2 tenders for these engines was placed with Robert Stephenson and Company. Since their original smaller Type XC tenders were already numbered for their respective engines, these new tenders, with Robert Stephenson works numbers D1540/1 to D1540/12, were numbered in the non-revenue earning range from N1 to N12.^[2][3][6]

In addition, 24 more spare Type XM2 tenders were subsequently acquired by the SAR, numbered in the range from N13 to N36.^[2][3]