Trains.com

Rare On Line Video: The Red Devil

1629 views
4 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    July 2002
  • From: A State of Humidity
  • 2,441 posts
Rare On Line Video: The Red Devil
Posted by wallyworld on Friday, February 13, 2009 12:31 AM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVYS7xj3eic&feature=PlayList&p=3A60107E9C753570&playnext=1&index=43

 Ah..a single locomotive in a single class 26C...what could have been the SAR equivilent of a NYC Niagara Class I understand all Wardales improvements were removed..Anyone know her current status?  

Heres also a brief segment of her double headed with a 25NC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PwOOjIO0T8&feature=PlayList&p=3A60107E9C753570&index=30

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: Southern California
  • 1,475 posts
Posted by New Haven I-5 on Friday, February 13, 2009 11:14 AM

Thanks for showing us South African steam at its best!

- Luke

Modeling the Southern Pacific in the 1960's-1980's

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Huntsville, AR
  • 1,251 posts
Posted by oldline1 on Saturday, February 14, 2009 11:58 PM

Thanks for the links!

Man.......you just have to love the spinning propeller on the lead engines smokebox in the first doubleheader!

SAR had some great steam and the Red Devil was truly an advanced and impressive engine. I loved the SAR 4-8-2's.


Roger Huber

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • 803 posts
Posted by GP40-2 on Sunday, February 15, 2009 7:07 PM
wallyworld
... I understand all Wardales improvements were removed..
Which leads into a very interesting question from an engineering prospective: If Wardales various "improvements" actually worked, why were they so quickly removed? I can't wait to hear all the conspiracy theories on this one...
  • Member since
    July 2002
  • From: A State of Humidity
  • 2,441 posts
Posted by wallyworld on Monday, February 16, 2009 8:06 AM

 The answer is prosaic as this engine was a one of a kind, a single example of a classification. This created some operational issues as engineers unfamiliar with just how different she was would inadvertantly defeat her uniqueness and efficency by running her as though she was a standard. In practice, having a one of a kind engine if you are not using it to tinker with, is contrary to practicality.The same applies to maintennance issues.

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy