Stunning, absolutely stunning. What more can be said. It's just so sad these days are gone. One of my greatest regrets is that I never saw South African steam in action, particularly the Class 25 Condensors.
What a wonderful tribute to such an awesome locomotive.The video is very well made and I salute you for bringing back great memories of the glorious days of steam in South Africa.One day soon I'm sure we will once again see these mighty iron horses ride the rails.Especially this one!
Trevor, thank you so much for sharing these great scenes of one of my favorite engines operating in one of my favorite areas, neither of which I'm likely to see first hand, ever. I so wish I could have been there in days gone by.
I loath the current over use of the term awesome - it should be reserved for machines such as this. What a beautiful beast! Grateful thanks for the upload.
I just broke one of my ear plugs for the phone listening to this music. There is no sound coming out of the broken half. Am using the other half. My phone was turned up all the way up as well. 👌👍
Some of the modifications that modernised the locomotive were removed, e.g. compressed air sanding, feedwater heater, pinhole grate, Herdner starting valves and others...
steamfreak3450 - Steam trains around the world What was the feedwater heater? Did it run off of exhaust steam or flue gas beyond the superheater, or both?
@@gregorymalchuk272 feedwater heater was located in the smokebox, making use of the heat in there from flue gas, and was situated between the exhausts on the red devil (ie. I could probably get some heat from the lampor's combination chamber)
@jeancdewandeleer Yes, it is the de-modernised version. At this point she had standard grates in, standard 25NC superheater, no feedwater heater, secondary air inlets blanked off, no Herdner starting valves, standard pistons etc. etc. The dual exhaust remained - not much else. The loco is still owned by Transnet and is being looked after in Cape Town by volunteers.
@sgprailfan The 25 Class are the 4-8-4 loco that the Red Devil was built from. 90 of the original class were built as condensing locos - they recondensed their exhaust steam in a huge condensing tender to extend their range in the arid Karoo region. After teething troubles, they worked well, but required far more maintenance than regular steam locos.
That is one clean cab ! the brasswork and guages look better than new....that is one beautiful loco . I will write to Mainline AGAIN..( and will keep writing until they reply ! bastards ! ) ...your 25NC is waiting , I know she will be very pleased to see you again Richard. cheers, Andy
Crosshead1, I share your regret re the 25 Condensers. I only saw a couple in storage, never running. I was fortunate to see a bit of steam when I was there.
Yep in a nut shell, they condensed their steam. The smoke box contained a small turbine driven fan to create a draught for the fire box etc and then the exhaust steam was fed to the tender that contained air -cooled condenser coils that recovered the water for return into the boiler. They made an odd noise, a barely audible chuff under the whine of the turbine and the condenser fans that were the prominent noise. Range on a single filling was in the order of 5-600 km unless water cart towed.
@ocrailfanner1995 it was most recently running in the Cape Town area of South Africa. It is currently stored out of service in Cape Town station, in a secure area. A local preservation group have been looking after the loco and keeping it clean. Not sure if/when it will see service again.
@Buemmo it was demodernised as it was "different" and required special parts and knowledge. Fitters did not necessarily know the loco's requirements and many standard parts were fitted back onto the loco. Some crews did not like the loco either due to her different requirements in driving and firing.
I believe she stands at Munument Station, just out of Cape Town Station, when Atlantic Rail runs every 2 weeks, I intend to see her 'in the flesh' so to speak!
I reckon caprotti valve gear would be a good, if costly, addition. Only thought of this because the whistle sounds like Duke of Gloucester's old whistle from the 90s
@steamfreak3450 Quotation from wikipedia: Maximum recorded: (4,490 hp) at 75.5 km/h (46.9 mph) Probable absolute: (5,030 hp) at 100 km/h (62 mph) Impressive statistics on any loco on any gauge.
+Matthew Brown yes the front end mods were still in place. The loco was fresh out of overhaul, so valves etc were all freshly set, rings and packing all renewed...
Rumour has it that The Red Devil 3450 will return to service again. Indications on Facebook this week are that she (he?) will soon be taken to Salt River Works in Cape Town for restoration. #reddevil3450 rides again!
The trip will be well worth the effort +steamfreak3450 - Steam trains around the world. Both Atlantic Rail in Cape Town and Ceres Railway Company are now running steam in Cape Town area. Great to see the steam restoration by Ceres Railway Company at Voorbaai Loco Depot in Mossel Bay.
NICE LOOKING POWER! I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING AND SOMETIMES WORKING A BIT ON THE AT&SF 4-8-4 #2926 BALDWIN IN ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO,USA! WHO IS THE BUILDER OF THIS ONE? THE EXHAUST SOUND IS A BIT SNAPPY, A SOUND OF ITS QWN FOR SURE!
steamfreak3450 - Steam trains around the world THX FOR RESPONSE AND INFO! I THINK NOW I UNDERSTAND THE EXHAUST NOTE! IT IS DUE TO THE EXHAUST NOZZLE CONFIGURATION! THIS IS BECAUSE IT HAS 2 EXHAUST STACKS IN STEAD OF ONE! IN EACH STACK IS THE VENTURI EACH VEN TURI HAS 2 EXHAUST PASSAGES
steamfreak3450 - Steam trains around the world EACH VENTURI HAS 2 EXHAUST CYLINDER PASSAGES FEEDING IT! USUAL PRACTICE IS HAVING 1 STACK WITH 1 VENTURI BEING FED BY THE EXHAUST CYLINDER PASSAGES! IN EFFECT THIS IS LIKE CONVERTING THE EXHAUST OF A GAS V-8 ENGINE FROM SINGLE EXHAUST TO DUAL EXHAUST! HAVE I GUESSED CORRECTLY HERE!
Great video of a GREAT ENGINE- BUT why no pan shots as the engine passed? Three quarter wedge shots are okay- but panning the engine as she passed would add so much.
Hi reg mason232, yes indeed some panning would have been great. I regret that now! However my primary focus that day was on still photography and the video suffered...
+steamfreak3450 The video did not suffer! It was beautiful. I am a steam modeler and amateur steam historian. Basically, I re-detail brass steam engines to the nth degree- re-motor etc, digitize etc. I have always loved the "Reds" great engine. Its last form with the overfire steam efficiency system has always intrigued me. You and people like you provide people like me with "a feeling" of the majesty of real steam. Plus you got to savor the aroma of coal steam! Ahhhh to back to 1954 and really savor what steam was like.
I wonder why Pixel Federation made two separate Red Devils. One is named after the official designation of the loco, and the other just.. "Red Devil". Pisses me off by how wrong they get. They didn't even get the smoke deflectors right.
pragtig , ek kry hoendervleis.....my pa Connie Nigrini en my broer Max Nigrini was albei vroeer jare op die stoom.so ek kom ook uit 'n huis waar die stoomtrein deel van ons lewe was. my pa was 'n drywer op die Bartlomeaus Diaz klas24 stoom lokomotief op Porterville. kan iemand vir my se waar kan ek fotos of videos van die klas 24 kan ;kry.spesifiek daardie een. die was in die begin van 1950 wat my pa op die stoom was.baie dankie
Hallo Esther, daai 24 Klas was nr 3675. Ek denk ek het iewers 'n paar prentjies van 3675 hier so, ek sal hulle vind. Stuur vir my jou epos adres an ek kan die fotos terug stuur. Die Porterville gebied is baie mooi! Verskoon my Afrikaans - ek is 'n Aussie! My epos adres is steamfreak@bluedigital.com.au. Dankie.
steamfreak3450 my email adres is estherbrink1@gmail.com o ek gaan verskriklik baie bly wees....gaan nou my broer bel om vir hom te vertel....hy het op 'n kol vir my pa gestook op daardie selfde stoomtrein....in Porterville....hy se dit was nogal weird gewees....ja eenmaal lief vir stoom en altyd lief vir stoomtreine. ek kan vir ure voor rekenaar sit en kyk. groete uit Durbanville in die Wes Kaap...
@@almostkentish3042 I imagine having to maintain a fleet of (up to) 140 class 25 locomotives and that single type 26 didn't help matters either. It's so different to the "base model" class 25 that they probably had to manufacture a lot of spare parts just for that one locomotive.
@@Deontjie Some locos had 3 or 4 cylinders - the additional 1 or 2 cylinders were between the frames, driving cranks on one of the main driving wheel axles.
No worries. I like to remember the Kimberley - De Aar line as in this video. It is now single track, electrified, no semaphores and of course - no steam...
It has been recently restored to running order and ran a number of trips from Cape Town earlier this year. It will run again once the summer fire season is over.
American steam -strong -big -can carry heavy cargos -longest living steams -restoration -family -good whistles -has comforters -a bit expensive first class -famous and popular -also needs to head foward -have largest steams British steams -restoring scrap steams -fast -cheap -family -a bit strong -pretty weak -head foward -hooter whistle -also longest living steams -also has comforters -expensive first class -famous and popular African trains -also comforters -family -pretty weak -sometimes strong -good whistles -old but popular -cheap -expensive in first class -family -delayed -also longest living steams
Livio Dante Porta was! David Wardale was following in his footsteps (I read his book 3 times, still struggled with quite a few bits in it, but very interesting and impressive).
