From Glasgow to Zambia: The Cape Government Loco's INCREDIBLE Story | Curator with a Camera
Вставка
- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
- What connects a famous railway artist, the first president of Zambia and a wood-burning steam locomotive? Head Curator Andrew McLean uncovers the remarkable story of the Cape Government Locomotive.
Built in Glasgow in the 1890s, this engine was shipped to southern Africa and won the heart of artist David Shepherd, who eventually found a way to bring it back to the UK in the 1970s.
Most locomotives in our collection are noteworthy for their engineering innovations, but for this one it's all about a rich history charting where it has been and who has been involved with it.
This episode was filmed at the National Railway Museum in York. To find out more about the museum, head to: www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/
Chapters:
00:00 Origins
01:33 The Cape to Cairo Railway
02:15 The Zambezi Sawmill Railway
02:47 The "ginormous kettle"
04:03 Track gauges explained
05:17 Wheels, oil pots and injector pipes
08:27 Kenneth Kaunda and David Shepherd
09:34 The 'garden shed' cab
10:17 On the footplate
11:20 Wood-burner on wheels
13:11 A nice postscript
#trains #history #africa - Авто та транспорт
Very interesting! I've always been curious about that locomotive, I've seen it at Shildon and York. It's a neat little thing.
Oh hello!
I love your videos, but I would like to note that, to be blunt, VPN providers are gobshites and shouldn't be given any time. Plenty of videos about explaining why.
yay,Jago is here, hello!
We have 3 South African locos in Scotland one in the Glasgow museum one in the summerlee museum and one at the Alford narrow guage railway
@caledonianrailway1233 and even more in Wales! Our narrow gauge stock seems to be ruling the roost on the old preserved lines. I'm sure if the UK had a 3'6" railway somewhere you'd have plenty more.
seen it aswell at shildon its at york i belive cos shildon wanted working replica rocket
Love the Bruce Springsteen frame 😂 “The Boss”
I saw that! Editor had fun there.
I can remember the documentary that featured this engine called "The Man Who Loved Giants" when it was broadcast first in the 70s, about David Shepherd. I met him in 1996 for the 25th anniversary rail tour to commemorate the return of steam on BR in 1971- the end of the notorious steam ban and the special train- which was based at H P Bulmer in Hereford. The train was a rake of Pullman carriages hauled by GWR King George V (6000) and this was testament to the efforts of Bulmer's boss, the incredible Peter Prior. Anyway, in 1996 the special train was hauled by 6024 which had just been repainted. I remarked to David Shepherd that had he painted the tender's BR crest emblem, the lion would have been replaced by an elephant, and he thought this was extremely funny- and possibly close to the truth.
Seen that loco when I visited back in 2022, very unique locos in that museum
This loco was on display at Shildon with a model of the Victoria Falls bridge, one of only 4 models of the bridge made by Cleveland Bridge, shame the model was thrown in the skip when this loco was removed from shildon.
The model went to Shildon Model Railway club Ray, you know it wasn't thrown out
@anthonycoulls7301 we need to have a bit of catch up fella
@@RaysRailVideos you know where I am 😁
Excellent story ❤ Nice inclusion of vintage footage.
INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really appreciated the inclusion of the footage, cracking job presenting this rather unassuming loco!
Fascinating! Thanks for that, particularly the connection with David shepherd!
Going to be the pedant here, re. a caption that appeared in this video, but Babbage didn't invent the cowcatcher. Babbage suggested the fitting of bars angled at 45 degrees to the front of locomotives after the death of William Huskisson at the opening of the L&M. Babbage believed a guard such as he suggested would push people off the tracks, preventing a recurrence of the sort of accident that happened to Huskisson. Babbage never actually built the device, nor was one ever fitted to a locomotive, nor did Babbage refer to it as a "cowcatcher". As well, the source of the story about Babbage suggesting fitting a guard to a locomotive is none other than Babbage himself (this story is related in Babbage's autobiography, and the claim appears in no earlier publications).
The Camden & Amboy Railroad was likely the first to fit a device that would be recognized as a cowcatcher to their locomotives, starting in 1833 shortly after steam haulage began on that line (and probably as a result of an early derailment which was caused by running over a pig only a few weeks after the locomotives went into use). Although the idea to outfit the C&A locomotives with cowcatchers is often credited to Isaac Dripps (the mechanic most famous for reassembling Stephenson's John Bull in 1831), there doesn't seem to be any contemporary sources that credit Dripps specifically. The word "cowcatcher" first appears in print (in the American Railroad Journal) a few years later.
Anyway, loved the video. Always thought the story behind this locomotive was fascinating.
FASCINATING STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will we get a video on L&YR Class 5 No. 1008? It’s a fairly interesting locomotive that doesn’t get talked about much. I would love a video on it.
Cool video, went to Australia by boat beginning of 1975 just before i was 14, it stopped in cape town and port was full of big working steam engines don't remember any shunters, they were all black
Anyone manage to see who the flash frame was? Not our host here was it?
Its Bruce Springsteen, aka "The Boss"
Aah okay, thanks for that!
Dear sir, allow me to point out facts about the buffer of the class 7 locomotive. The originaly came out with the bell buffer and worked on the SAR and RR (Rhodesian railways) with these buffers. The bell buffer was replaced with the Aliance buffer during the late 50's early 60's. You can see what the bell buffer looked like if you onto google en type in: "South-African railways locomotive class 7 at Upington". You wil find fotos of a plinthed model. Thankyou for interesting video. Frank.
Great episode
Any idea where the sleeping coach is now? Be great if it could join the class 7 at York.
wow. the old man pictured in front of the q1, my favorite steam locomotive
I love the Q1 too, but that's not just an old man. That's David Shepherd.
@@althejazzman but i refer the old man to David Shepherd
Very interesting video! It was good to find out more about a loco that seems quite unassuming - a lot of the history here was completely new to me and really eye-opening. Great to see some new episodes out again!
Thank you very much! Very fascinating!
Very interesting what a fascinating life that loco had.
What a fascinating history
Wonderful. Now get a knuckle for that front coupler.
The oil pots resemble a Scottish Thistle.
Such a pretty engine
Still got Bruce Springsteen pictures popping up in video
i was going out with a girl at bristol uni and had some time to kill one day and went to the old station next to temple meads which was the closed comonwealth museum,, and as i was walking past next to the bus stop outside was this long red lever which i was convinced was a regulator of a steam loco,,, sure enough just inside an archway was this loco and some one was trying to theive the regulator from it,,, i went back to the bus stop and picked it up and slotted it underneath the tender on top of the bogies,, always wondered if they found it and as its fitted now they must have!
Hello from Thailand
Is NRM ever considered to call out the A4s in the US to meet with the others in Mallard 100th anniversary or Speed anniversary in the UK?
Also, I'm not gonna lie it would be nice if we send one of our North British built 4-6-0s (Royal State Railway of Siam 'E class') to display there in NRM
Man when our narrow gauge engines at?
Nice to see that engine in a good condition in the great hall. But I would like to know more about the whereabouts of this locomotive after it returned to the UK.
I know that initially it was intended to run this locomotive on the track at the Whipsnade Zoo after widening the gauge rom 2'6" to 3'6". But that never happened as it was too expensive.
But what happened with this locomotive after that?
The Henricot coupler isn't the original one, as built these had chopper couplers, something that resembles the tension lock on a OO gauge model quite well except for the loop.
Knuckle couplers came in use somewhere in the 1930s.
When I was in SA in 1994 I saw 2 of these class 7 for a goods photo charter and got some footage on video, that was after we just returned from Knysna on the daily steam service behind a 24 and we didn't know that this train was running, so it was a bit of luck.
When you compare this with the class 15F in Glasgow or the GL class Garratt in MOSI then this is a rather small locomotive.
And it looks absolutely tiny compared to the most famous Mastodon running today, Norfolk and Western M-class #475, at the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania.
@@kristoffermangila Yes, that is quite a difference. But bear in mind that this 7A engine is narrow gauge 3'6" and it was built for the then very lightly laid rails. The axle load is only 9 tons compared with 19 tons for the N&W M-class, which on its own was a relatively light axle load for the US as that locomotive was designed to be able to run on the most lightly laid track of the N&W railroad network then.
Since then the South African railroads have quite improved on their PW.
Later mainline steam power like the 15F and 25 sat at 19 tons per axle and the current major freight routes are suited for 25 up to 30 tons of axle load, which is quite a lot on narrow gauge.
I'm always amazed that British-built locomotives for export so closely follow American practice - two outside cylinders, outside valve gear, a cow catcher, knuckle-type couplers, and a powerful headlight.
They had to cover longer distances more efficiently. Fooling with the ancient chain-and-buffer system was fine for the UK, but not everywhere. Once they got into electrics and diesels, they finally got rid of that.
South African locomotive designers were very good at leapfrogging railway innovations from the UK, US and Germany this trend continued well into the 1970s culminating in the Red Devil locomotive. Her modifications designed by David Wardale with features inspired by LD Porta of Argentina.
Im very interested in the BBC recordings if you could send a link to them
A very interesting video - what was the BBC programme that was used as inserts into this?
It's 'Last train to Mulobesi' a wonderful film
4-8-0's weren't all that common, so this is quite an interesting survival. One is operating (occasionally) in Strasberg, Pennsylvania.
I was thinking that too, but then recalled that 4-8-0s similar to this one were pretty much the older standard freight locomotives in four of the six states in my home of Australia. All the states with significant lengths of 42 inch gauge track.
Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia.
Why did Britain persist with the chain and screw coupling rather than the buck eye type. Old footage of shunters running alongside wagons with hooks and people having to go between the wagons to lift the heavy chain seems very dangerous.
You are asking the question that I'v been asking to this day. The only answer I assume is: Brittain cling to the middle-ages.
Do you guys have a Japanese 4-8-4? Would love to see that. Unless that's another museum i am thinking of
It was built for China.
chinese i think at the nrm
@@davidblurton7158 Correct, built for China by Vulcan Foundry. Returned to Britain in 1981.
Whst happened to the coach that was imported with it?
And the over loco
The coach is at the National Collections Centre near Swindon, fully restored.
The proportions of this loco look odd as it has such a huge boiler compared to it's small wheels.
Any American railfan sees this one, they'll call it... a Baby Mastodon!
Isn't the "cow-catcher" properly known as the "Pilot"?
In the USA maybe
Why is the narrow gauge so much cheaper to build? Seems like you need the same length of rails.
Would guess less ground work as the track is not so wide and also smaller sleepers
Rail by length yes, by weight no. Google Everard Calrhrop ..... a UK engineer who pioneered commercially practical NG railways. In the UK he's best known for the Leek & Manifold Valley Light Rly (the one tbat got away ☹), but his best work was in India
@@TheHoveHeretic hey mate so that means the rails profile is smaller so less weight per meter?
Exactly that. Lighter trains, lighter rail,more narrow right of way = less cost.
You can lay and negotiate curves of smaller radius. with large savings on earthworks and cuttings - you could go round the hill rather than through it.
Interesting. Germans also call boilers kettles, but it's spelled Kessel.
You really should edit the lion footage out, there are no lions in SA. Except in the zoo...