- REEFSTEAMERS PHOTO PACK – DIURNAL CLASS 12AR 1). INTRODUCTION : Steam locomotives really are diurnal creatures – they look and run great at day time as well as in the hours of darkness, and especially at the magic hours of dawn and dusk. With dramatic changes in my job situation and also the duties of Club Secretary, I don’t have much time to do Depot Reports and such articles these days, but I’ve been putting this little 12AR themed photo essay together in the occasional spare hours that I catch fluttering around. This Photo Essay covers two weekends of working with our Class 12AR and has been selected to show somewhat harshly lit day time work as well as work during the more unconventional hours. Our featured Class 12AR No.1535 ‘Susie’ is running great and she is currently the only bread winner for the depot fleet, which are hungry for new boiler tubes and firebox repairs and what not. Quite a voracious, heavy weight family for ‘Gran’ma Suzie’ to support. She’s developed a few minor steam leaks in the auxiliaries, as can be expected for any elderly locomotive, and it is suspected that there is a restriction in the steam feed for the fireman’s injector as it isn’t picking up properly with the turret-based steam valve at part throttle. You have to move quickly to wind the turret valve out – no convenient quick-opening Seller’s valve here! But ever since being returned to steam after her dry crown sheet incident, she is confirming her reputation as a tough, sure- footed and reliable old girl. The Vesconite ™ bearing conversion to the valve motion is working a treat. Class 25NC No.3472 ‘Elize’ has passed both her hydraulic and visual boiler inspection and is now being buttoned up for a steam test, with the worn, holed chimney currently under repair and a spare petticoat waiting for installation. Next on the boiler inspection list is Sandstone Estates’s GMAM Garratt No.4079 ‘Lyndie Lou’ but no issues are expected apart from a few leaky flexible-stay caps. The other favourite for the day-trips, the Class 15CA No.2056 ‘Dorothy’ is going to be standing for a while with failed SAR-era welds in the flues. These are currently being inspected but getting the 15CA back into steam looks like a long and expensive job. When the 12AR is taken off her four months cycle for the day trips, the mighty Class 25NC will take over for a few shake down runs after recommissioning and both the locomotives will be used to haul the Cherry Festival 2009 train to the Free State. We hope to have the GMAM recertified by the end of the year so the ‘little’ Class 12AR will have two of her really big sisters around to help take the load. But for now, she’s doing all the work and earning some of her rail-cred back after standing idle for 2 years with motion parts scattered all around the workshop and the smokebox door leaning defeatedly against the air compressor room wall. Out of the shed and in the sharp-edged light of the African day, or the magic touch of the darker hours, this last survivor of her class, the only one of her kind, always draws the eye. File Name : FP-Diurnal Class 12AR - 2009-M08-22 - vs4.doc Date of Print : Wed, 16 Sep 2009 Doc. Author : Lee D. Gates Page 1 of 11 Reefsteamers Association Incorporated under Section 21 of Companies Act. Reg. 950259008 - REEFSTEAMERS PHOTO PACK – DIURNAL CLASS 12AR FA01 – A few flicks of coal are casually going into the 41 sq. foot FA02 – Senior fireman Johann Breydenbach relaxes and chats grate during a relatively rare open-air Reefsteamers Fire-Lighting to Attie and Sakkie out of frame. The locomotive was raising session. We normally do fire lighting work under cover in the old steam at 500kPA, but with the firebox doors open and the fire boiler house (visible in the background) Our Class 12AR hardly blown, to slow the pressure increase down ; as the staff No.1535 ‘Susan’ was rostered to take a 17 vehicle train to of the Shongololo Express were still busy preparing their Boksburg East on behalf of our tenants, the Shongololo Express. coaches. The red lamps on the buffer beam are not SAR standard. (Neither is the ‘Oom’ Attie trademark – an oil can left on the This would be an easy prep and run. The coaches were buffer beam.) actually only meant to move the following day but this would have meant overnight loco minding work. So we arranged to Doesn’t she look a picture? move them on Saturday afternoon– which caught their staff out a bit. FA03 - The Hydrostatic Lubricator is charged and ready to go – FA04 – A driver’s eye view of power reverser testing. Fireman but is bubbling and hissing from the filler plug. The valve with Johann Breydenbach is operating the reverser lever while the extension handle is the steam valve for the fireman’s injector Driver Attie de Necker has already checked the right side and is – this elderly locomotive does not have a Seller’s valve set-up, now out of sight on the left side of the engine. so the steam supply for the injectors is operated directly from the outermost valves on the turrets and not from pull levers from The power reverser should be checked before every run, for full halfway up the left side of the boiler backhead, as with our 15F’s, extent of operation, leaks and for the operation of the locking the 25NC and Sandstone’s GMAM. cylinder. The displacement lubricator must be confirmed to have has been drained of condensate and refilled with oil. The The medium size valve wheel is the blower and the small valve Class 12AR is a bit unusual in that the reverser’s exhaust wheel is for the steam turbine driven dynamo. The square steam discharges to ground level via a vertical pipe mounted copper cover from which the valves protrude is not a standard behind the RHS cylinder chest (center of picture), instead of item – but was custom made and fitted for the locomotive. (Our between the frames or the ash pan like the reverser discharge Class 15CA No.2056 ‘Dorothy’ has a similar turret arch cover pipes of most more modern SAR locomotives do. fitted by the Booysens duo (Timothy and Chris) – but in stainless steel.) The white building is the recently donated modular office which has been installed and wired up. Apart from the kitchen, it will The spindles on which the valve wheels are mounted fit loosely function as the engineering office as well as the Reefsteamers in a cast iron plate – to allow for relative movement between the media library. The yard lighting is being repaired and upgraded boiler backhead and the locomotive’s cab. This plate has an too – you can see the scaffolding around the light standard in added luxury – the valve functions are actually stamped in. front of the building. File Name : FP-Diurnal Class 12AR - 2009-M08-22 - vs4.doc Date of Print : Wed, 16 Sep 2009 Doc. Author : Lee D. Gates Page 2 of 11 Reefsteamers Association Incorporated under Section 21 of Companies Act. Reg. 950259008 - REEFSTEAMERS PHOTO PACK – DIURNAL CLASS 12AR SP01 – Some extra preparation work went into this locomotive! SP02 – Class 12AR No.1535 ‘Susan’ is standing hot, but silent Against the unadorned, solidly black painted goods-train sized and dignified at the head of her train. She is facing east, as she wheels (4 feet 3 inches), the newly polished coupling rods and will be hauling the train eastbound to Boksburg East station. valve gear really stand out. These rods were done with a So she will be PUSHING the classically profiled clearstory train pneumatic powered flapper wheel but the job is still a long and out of our west-facing yard-lead today. The two flat vehicles tedious one with the crannies, recessed webs and gaps needing behind the tender are special roll-on road vehicle transporters hand work where the bulky flapper wheel can’t go. used by Shongololo Express for their mini and midi busses. It’s a thankless job too, as those rods get dirty again quite It would require extra care on the shunt as you’re pushing a set quickly, especially up front at the valve gear end. However, if of heavy coaches on a curve with two light vehicles in between they are rubbed down with paraffin before a trip, the dropped the locomotive and the coaches. When a train is made up, grease and oil doesn’t stick. It’s easier to put a little extra effort ideally the light vehicles should go towards the back. into keep the rods clean than letting them get crusty. S03 – Like a fly to a honey pot (A really BIG honey pot!), SP04 – Spot the running repairs required to this loco? Ackerman Slightly Junior (aka ‘Patrick’) is irresistibly called from his graphite painted perch from astride the 25NC smokebox to By the time ‘Susie’ has chuffed in a stately manner right though come and watch the live steam action. He is just about to walk the Carriage Shed, the cylinders and the pistons are warm a-pace with the engine right through the carriage shed with eyes enough to close the cylinder cocks. But the left hand piston for nothing other than the mesmerizing movements of those gland is blowing a bit and the backward slipstream forms a coupling rods and valve gear, courtesy of Uncle Walschaert.