Page 33 - Bulletin 8 2004

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Thirteen years later the concept of steam motive power had not changed much, but the
Stephensons had certainly developed a very successful little engine named

“Locomotion” which emerged in 1825 hauling lengthy trains of coal wagons on the
Stockton and Darlington Railway. The opening of this railway is, in fact, the landmark

event in the history of revenue-earning railway operation. (Fig. 2.2).

Four years later, however, in 1829, it was “Rocket” which established once and for all

the principle of the true reciprocating steam locomotive as we know it today. One can
say that this principle was the masterstroke of George and Robert Stephenson, which

established their fame for all time and the basics of steam locomotive design for the
future. (Fig. 2.3).

Steam comes to Cape Town

In 1854 Mr. G. T. Browne, the London-based managing director of the Cape Town

Railway and Dock Company, authorised Messrs. J. and H. Reid, attorneys of Cape
Town, to form a local committee for the purpose of establishing a railway. This

comprised the Hon. John Bardwell Ebden, Thomas Watson, George Thompson, Samuel
Bushell, and Edward Jenner Jerram. In 1857 the Cape Colonial Government granted

them permission to construct a 57-mile railway from Cape Town to Wellington via
Stellenbosch.

In September 1859 the first steam locomotive in South Africa was landed at Cape
Town. She was assembled in a shed on the corner of the Grand Parade but only steamed

in 1861 when a branch line to Salt River was opened. The cylinders and motion were
situated between the frames which was very a British practice. In 1874 she was shipped

to Port Alfred for the construction of the Kowie Railway. In 1913, in a derelict
condition, she was rescued and returned to Cape Town, ultimately being mounted on

Cape Town Station and has stood in the main line concourse of the new station to this

day.