Re: SAR 25NC "Molly" (Greg)

"Again, not disagreeing with your assessment of the condition of the Red Devil at the time you saw it. I've heard similar accounts from others visiting in the 90's."
My visit was in 1984, and while I wanted to see the engine, I was not impressed by the looks, nor the sound of this monstrosity. I guess my opinion was that if it had lead to the longevity of steam in S. Africa, then I am for it, but in this case all they did was modify some perfectly good engines. Besides the 4-8-4 in question there was a 19D(4-8-2)I believe also that he tinkered with.
The handwriting was on the wall, and SAR management was full bore into getting those nice U.S. diesels despite the fact they had to import ALL of their oil, and had lots of coal reserves. The SAR managment was sucked in by the U.S. Diesel salesmen, and their need for "progress". Most of these 4-8-4's had plenty of life left as they were built around 1953, but Henschel, and North British.
I guess I have to be thankful it lasted as long as it did. Like the U.S. SAR went through a huge track elimation program after steam was gone, and the current system is far different from 1977 and 1984 when I was there. But then the U.S. railroads have changed a lot since then also!
Greg