Talk:South African Class 19 4-8-2

Content of email received from RS Loubser, son of MM Loubser, SAR CME 1939-1949, on 17 Jun 2011

Beste Andre,

Hennie Heymans het vir my julle stukke oor die 'South African Class 19D 4-8-2' aangestuur. Baie dankie vir al julle werk om die SAS lokomotiewe se gegewens so mooi bymekaar te kry vir Wikipedia! Ek sou graag 'n bydrae will maak oor die 19 klas, maar laat ek eers my eie agtergrond vir julle gee. Ek skakel oor in Engels:

I am Raimund Stefanus Loubser, son of MM Loubser, retired as CME in 1949, and brother of the late Kobus Loubser, CME and GM of SAR & H. I was born in 1927, graduated at US in 1948, and spent 5 years in the Mechanical Dept. of the SAR as Pupil and Assistant Engineer until 1954. Experience included participating in the Laingsburg - Pietermeintjies 3b boiler tests in 1949 (for improved design data for the Cls 25), and accepting the new Cls 24 engines for the (Later defunct) Selati line, and GMAM 4051, for The Northern Transvaal Section . I then joined the NMechEngRI of the CSIR as head of the Strength of Materials Division until 1964. (Maybe it should have been the 'Failure due to Design Weakness Division'?). Contact with the SAR remained with investigations into fatigue failures of welded rails, Cls 25 connecting rods cracking and condenser turbine blade failures even after they had been 'strengthened' by Henschel. In 1964 I moved to Pelindaba until I retired in 1988, but there was no direct contact with the SAR any more in this period. Certainly I remained in contact with my Dad all these years until he passed away in 1962 - we both basically stayed in Pretoria. He gave me his 'magnum opus', "Some Aspects of Railway Mechanical Engineering" (Annale van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch, Vol 36, Serie A No 9, van 1961, blse 427 - 546.) written at the request of and financed by the SAR, a masterful anaysis of (often) contradicting test results, world wide, of the design of steam locomotives, and their conciliation to end up with a simple logical way to do the designs, which were then confirmed by final tests. The case mentioned below of the test to detect blast caps which are too small is mentioned in p440, second-last paragraph.

In the Wikipedia 'South African Class 19 D 4-8-2' , under 'Manufacturers', it states:

"The Class 19 was originally designed by Colonel F. R. Collins, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) --- 1922 to 1929."

This is not the complete picture. My father M M Loubser, (often addressed as 'MM') had personally informed me that he was appointed in Col Collins' time (approx.1926) as Test Engineer. His main job was to commission the new Dynamometer Coach 60 , but he soon had to go to Natal to assist in solving the problem of the new Class HF Modified Fairlies, which were very poor steamers and had been staged. The first test on a steamed HF, was to tie some waste on the tip of a borrowed fishing rod, and hold that at the top edge of the chimney as the loco started hard. The waste disappeared - it had been sucked into the smokebox! (Quite a fishy story?). This showed that the diameter of the blast pipe cap was too small, the exhaust steam did not reach the chimney's inside, so little vacuum was formed in the smokebox. MM could calculate what size the cap should be, and presumably the size of the 4 knives to get the best blast rate. He was the only local engineer who had this ability - he had obtained it from the experts in the 'Technische Hochschule, Charlottenburg', Berlin, Germany, where he graduated in 1915. This enabled G Ramsey, the ME Durban, to effect the necessary changes and tests, and a good result was obtained. (See Holland Vol 2, p 52 for the latter information). More important, the news reached Col. Collins, who was most impressed and then requested MM to DO THE BASIC DESIGN OF THE CLS 19. Naturally the Drawing Office had to do the detail design, which was presumably formally signed by the CME. Unfortunately, I am quoting the above information on 'verbal evidence' from my Dad and I have no other sources. It does make sense, however, and I would think it appropriate to change the above-quoted sentence to:

"The Class 19 was originally designed basically by Test Engineer M M Loubser at the request of Colonel F. R. Collins, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) --- It could also be considered to add: '(CME from 1939 - 1949)' after MM's name.

I am at your service to discuss the matter. My details are: Address; 465 Protea Lane, Lynnwood, Pretoria 0081 Phone (unreliable) 012 361 2762. Cell 083 265 9707 e-mail (removed) ID 270514 5029 080

Regards Raimund.

Included here by André Kritzinger (talk) 22:22, 17 June 2011 (UTC)