Serious steam locomotive engineering students may be interested in the new book "Camels and Cadillacs" by Phil Girdlestone, covering the South African Railways 25 (condensing) and 25NC 4-8-4's. These locomotives were developed in the 1950's and incorporated the best of American, British, and German design elements including machinery beds from General Steel Castings. Anyone who travelled to South Africa in the 70's and 80's to see steam will be familiar with them. The book goes into a lot of technical detail (Somewhere between Kratville's Mighty 800 and Wardale's Red Devil) and includes lots of component drawings and photographs. I'm not sure if it's available from a supplier in the USA (I got mine out of the UK) but the ISBN is 978-91-7266-185-1, published by Stenvalls. In the interest of "full disclosure" I did once work with the author, but have absolutely no financial interest in this.
P. Hosford

I witnessed their operation in the 70's.
Quite a machine slung on 3'6" gauge.

An excellent book for any "student of the iron horse".

Jim Kreider

Here's my review:

Camels and Cadillacs
By Phil Girdlestone
Frank Stenvalls Förlag | 160 pages | 2014
ISBN 978-91-7266-185-1 | hardcover w/jacket

Reviewed by Bill Hough

South African Railways’ (SAR) Class 25/25NC 4-8-4 locomotives are legendary among steam locomotive enthusiasts, having lasted into the early 1990s on the famous Kimberley-De Aar section of the important 3’6” gauge Cape main line that connects Johannesburg with Cape Town. The locomotives’ outward appearance have caused observers to compare them to New York Central’s “Niagara” 4-8-4s, but author Girdlestone explains that SAR’s Advisory Engineer Dr. L. Douglas was actually influenced by N&W’s J class 4-8-4s during his time in the United States.

A total of 140 Class 25 locomotives were built during the early 1950s, when U.S. railroads were rapidly dieselizing. Like the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe main line through the Mojave Desert, SAR’s Cape main passes through territory where water is in short supply. AT&SF’s solution was to dieselize its desert routes as quickly as possible but, in the late1940s, South Africa had no oil, plenty of coal, and no infrastructure to support main line electrification. Therefore, SAR addressed the need to conserve water by specifying that90 of the 4-8-4s would be equipped with condensing technology to re-use exhaust steam that would otherwise be discharged into the atmosphere. These would be known as the“25C” subclass and were nicknamed “camels” due to this efficiency.

The remaining 50 4-8-4s were conventional, non-condensing locomotives and were known as Class 25NCs. Like SP’s SD7s and 9s, the crews called them “Cadillacs” for their excellent ride qualities. Although Germany’s Henschel had developed condensing technology and held the patents, Class 25C/25NC production was split between that firm and the North British Locomotive Company for technical and political reasons. The major components were shipped Cape Town and final assembly took place at the nearby Salt River workshops. During the 1970s, changing circumstances coupled with the reality that the condensers were more expensive to operate and maintain meant that they were converted to NC status with the complicated condensing system was removed. The conversion led to the nickname “Worshonde” or “Sausage Dog” because of the appearance of the modified tender with the condensing apparatus removed. The Class 25NCs operated into the early 1990s with over 30 examples being preserved at various locations as shown in the Appendix.

Now, over two decades after Class 25NC regular operations ceased, Phil Girdlestone comes along to present a comprehensive history of these interesting locomotives. A former Mechanical Engineer of the Alfred County Railway, Girdlestone interacted with his SAR counterparts and had access to large amounts of written source material which resulted in this detailed history. The book starts out with a background discussion of some SAR predecessor locomotives, focusing on certain 4-8-2, 2-10-2 and 2-10-4 types. Henschel had delivered a batch of Class 15F 4-8-2s right before World War 2 and after the war SAR officials had to decide whether to get more or go with a new design. There was an extensive testing program which led to SA Specification #L125, SAR’s “Request for Proposals” for the Class 25.

During this time, a concurrent test program was under way to evaluate condensing technology. SAR acquired a condensing tender and related equipment from Henschel and retrofitted it to Class 20 2-10-2 2485. The locomotive was tested on lines in South West Africa and Transvaal and the average water saving was 90%, which justified the acquisition of the condensing locomotives. The next chapter provides a detailed description of the locomotive’s attributes and is accompanied by mechanical drawings and photos of the assembly process at Salt River.

After the locomotives entered service, a number of mechanical problems surfaced. Various issues were diagnosed and addressed during the late 1950s. Over time it became apparent that the condensing mechanism was costly to maintain, so it was removed as the Beaufort West to De Aar section was dieselized. By 1980, all 25Cs except 3 were converted to 25NCs and the type would become well known on the Kimberely-De Aar section until their 1992 retirement.

In a last ditch to wring more efficiency out of steam, one 25NC was rebuilt under the guidance of David Wardale into a one-off Class 26. This locomotive, painted bright red and known as the “Red Devil,” was equipped with several modifications designed to improve performance. Although basically successful, it was too late in the game to reverse the trend of diesel and electric traction.

This book is well illustrated with numerous photographs, technical drawings and three useful maps to show where the 25s operated. Particularly interesting is the coverage of the condensing locomotives, which were an uncommon solution to a familiar problem. In general, this book excels with good coverage of these locomotive’s early years and the author singles out the contribution of Les Pivnic in providing many photos from that period. Several of these appear in the final chapter, which is a 40 page photo gallery of the locomotives in service throughout their life. “Camels and Cadillacs” will appeal to students of steam locomotives and to the many observers who saw this class operate on the Cape main.

Great review; thanks for posting.

Yes, great review psa188! I have only one small criticism of the book, it would have been nice to have some recollections from the men who drove and fired them, particularly what the condensers were like to handle compared to the NC's. Like I say it's a very small criticism, it's one of the best steam books I've seen in years.
P. Hosford