South African Railways class 25 condenser

Here we see a clip of the final working of a South African Railways class 25 condensing locomotive. No 3511 was at the time the only working example left and was at the time preserved. On this day in June 1992 we were booked to work a goods to De Aar and back with this wonderful beast. At De Aar the temp was about -7 Celsius and so it looks like the machine is leaking all over. As you will notice this loco has no beat but a rather soft whine which can be heard more as the driver shuts the regulator and the turbines start to slow down. As we pass through Kraankuil we pass a enthusiast special worked by 15CA 2828 which later joins us at Orange river. Despite this class 25 standing idle for many months she performed great on this occasion and never gave us a single problem the whole way to De Aar and back. The final clip of the train heading through Witput station was taken by a linesider who I only knew as Chris at the time. Sadly this was to be her last and final working and since then has been standing idle in Kimberley shed but is now being taken care of by a enthusiast group.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• 25
• 3511s
• last
• trip
• 1992

[Vintage1976]

Is this Richard Niven? Awesome story about firing on this last run.

[LifeofRail]

@Vintage1976 What ever makes you think i'm Richard Niven??? Your right it sure is me. Enjoy

[jmcvlam]

Did you know Boet Viljoen on De Aar?

[LifeofRail]

@jmcvlam I never knew many of the De Aar drivers but for sure I do remember the name Boet Viljoen!! I think he was on diesels long before the end of steam if im correct.

[DKS225]

Though i'm surprised that Steam in South Africa lasted as long as it did In Australia steam's reign ended roughly twenty years earlier around 1973

[LifeofRail]

Steam was so much more reliable and cheaper to run than diesels in SA and thats the reason it lasted so much longer. A 25NC could do the same work as two large diesels and at a quarter of the cost. The 25s were also much better express passenger locos than any diesel on SAR

[Vintage1976]

@LifeofRail I read a story about you learning to fire this Condensing engine on the fly. It was a great story!

[WigzellRM]

Thanks for posting the vid, they were great machines.

[DKS225]

Well that's what happens when an amateur gets in the way of a fully trained driver John knew what he was doing he obviously didn't need any interference but i heard that some people went to SA just to drive steam locomotives yourself and John included

[DKS225]

Too bad that management wasn't thinking straight Richard i mean why replace a good steam loco like the class 25NC or even the Class 25C you can imagine them running at up to 75mph on the straight