In 1931 three narrow gauge locomotives with a 2-8-2 Mikado wheel arrangement were acquired for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company in South West Africa. Four more batches were purchased for the Otavi and for the Tsumeb Copper Corporation during the subsequent years, built by Henschel and Son and Société Franco-Belge, bringing the total number of these locomotives up to twenty-one by 1958. When the Otavi Railway was regauged to Cape gauge in 1960, all twenty-one locomotives were taken over by the South African Railways. They were classified as Class NG15, renumbered in the ranges 17 to 19, 117 to 124, 132 to 136 and 144 to 148, and transferred to the Eastern Cape for service on the Langkloof narrow gauge line where they were commonly known as Kalaharis.
See also the Wikipedia article on the South African Class NG15 2-8-2. |