Since the late 1950s the interest in
collecting locomotive artifacts has escalated, and various items
of African origin are today increasingly popular, possibly
because of the 1990s glut of 'steam safari' holidays. The NRZ
Historical Committee verifies that the recent withdrawal of so
many Zimbabwean steam engines has led to an unprecedented demand
for 'relics'.
Over the years various steam locomotives were given names,
sometimes officially, more often not. Botswanan or Zimbabwean
diesels were never named, and despite representations neither
were the NRZ electrics. Official naming of locomotives was seldom
practised and so it was something of a novel move in 1978 when RR
decided to name the refurbished Garratts of the 15th/15A and
20th/20A classes. The nameplates are of polished bronze, six
inches high with rounded ends, and carry the trirail symbol at
each end. Originally polished against a red background, in common
with cabside and bufferbeam numberplates these handsome plates
were in recent years defaced - the glint and polish was abandoned
in favour of easy and expedient yellow painted lettering against
a gloomy black background.
In the early 1980s the NRZ workshops cast several replica
nameplates, notably Tuli and the inevitable Jumbo. These can be
detected because the bolt holes are midline whereas on a
'genuine' plate they are drilled slightly higher. Longer plates
have three bolt holes, and Umtshwayeli is one such. Preserved
15th No 394 Umzwazwa has a new plate to replace one riddled by
bullets during a 1980s fracas on the Beira line and there have
without a doubt been other replacements following accident
damage.
Cabside numberplates are of oval pattern, approximately 13in
high by 19in wide. Early examples are of cast brass and tend to
be sought after because they retain the original company names.
'Mashonaland Railway' plates seem to be more common than
'Rhodesia Railways', but are none the less attractive.
Certain of the 7th and 8th Class 4-8-0s bore small oval brass
'KB' plates above the cabside numberplate proper. The initials
stood for 'Kalomo-Broken Hill', indicating the engine had been
purchased through finance allocated to this particular section;
such plates are very rare indeed.
With the arrival of the 12th Class 4-8-2s in 1926, cabside
plates, though still of brass, lost much of their appeal because
they now simply carried a bland locomotive number. A pleasant
exception noted as late as 1978 was 12th Class No 247 which bore
a diminutive '12' below the number, but this was clearly a local
addition by some houseproud engineman. When the Garratts began to
arrive on the scene in large numbers, particularly the 15th/15A
Class, it became the norm for the locomotive class to be
indicated on the cabside numberplate. Most of the original cab
plates were removed when the locomotives went in for
refurbishment at RESCCO/ZECO. The only post-1980 cabside plates
not of aluminium, yet bearing the full NRZ legend are the bronze
examples especially cast in Bulawayo workshops for preserved 14th
Class No 500.
In the late 1970s 14A Class No 520 is said to have briefly
borne a pair of aluminium cabside plates bearing the initials
ZRR, appropriate to the short-lived Zimbabwe Rhodesia Railways,
and one of these interesting castings may be seen at the NRZ
Museum.
During the early 1980s steam locomotive plates tended to have
a polished finish, usually against a red background. After a
while the general decline in cleanliness prompted a move to paint
the lettering yellow against a black background. Whilst this move
certainly made it easier to identify a grubby locomotive it did
little for aesthetics, and collectors who prefer to leave such
items in 'ex-loco condition' would do well to examine photographs
of those newly refurbished engines with their plates still in
pristine condition.
Brass or aluminium cabside plates affixed to Rhodesian diesels
usually bore the locomotive class identity and the initials 'RR'.
Of similar size and dimension to steam engine plates, most were
replaced in due course with the standard aluminium NRZ
pattern.
In times past steam locomotives usually had their numbers
painted fore and aft, but some time during World War II it became
standard the to affix brass bufferbeam plates, one with the word
'No' and the other the actual engine number. The numerals were
polished metal against a black background. In the 1980s these
plates inevitably fell victim to the ubiquitous yellow paintpot,
covering the by now rather grimy brasswork. Subsequently a few
colour variations appeared, including white-painted letters on a
blue or green background, with cabside plates to match. A few
replacement plates cast in the 1980s were made of bronze rather
than brass.
As far as diesel locomotives were concerned, in the mid-1970s
the practice arose to replace the rather attractive stencilled
numbers at each end of a unit with rectangular cast aluminium
numberplates. The locally-built DE.5s (and the imported prototype
No 1500) also carried a steel trirail emblem just above each of
these plates; the trirail is believed to have been adopted as the
RR symbol in May 1969 concurrent with the change in format of the
Rhodesia Railways Magazine.
Small but very collectable brass plates, oval with raised
lettering, adorned the tenders of most non-articulated steam
locomotives. The number originally coincided with that of the
locomotive, but such became the frequency of tender-swapping that
it was the exception rather than the rule for an engine to be
mated with its original tender. Preserved 19th Class No 330, for
example, is today attached to the rebuilt tender from No 336
"Silent Susie". The Henschel-built 19th Class carried two tender
works plates, identical to those on the cabside, and occasional
aberrations turned up with one worksplate showing a different
serial number to its partner. The tender plates of No 323 were an
example. The five 9th Class built by Beyer Peacock in 1915 had
few detail differences from their North British stablemates, but
one obvious variation was the provision of a brass tender
worksplate. Unfortunately for the purists the plates only showed
the year of manufacture and not the locomotive number.
On bunker or tender sides, more recent locomotives carried a
pair of cast initials 'RR', those on the 19th Class being larger
and slightly curved to accommodate the Vanderbilt tender profile.
(In the early 1940s a few locomotives carried brass 'RRM'
lettering, but this soon gave way to the basic 'RR' pattern.) In
similar vein certain of the diesels carried cast aluminium 'RR'
lettering. Understandably most of these items were removed from
1980 onwards, and subsequently various diesels began to be
adorned with large and rather garish black-painted 'NRZ'
lettering.
Many of the older and in consequence more interesting works
plates tended to end their days in the foundry melting pot when
the locomotives were scrapped, this being before the days of
widespread artifact collecting. In a most extraordinary attempt
to make money out of the increasing interest, it was a misguided
move during the mid-1970s when Rhodesia Railways sanctioned the
removal of works plates from all steam locomotives and offered
them for sale to railway enthusiasts. Worse still was the act of
vandalism carried out at the RR Museum to 'weather' various of
the plates by sandblasting - a process which of course all but
wrecked the lettering. Each Beyer Garratt carried two worksplates
which meant that well over two hundred such items were
prematurely removed and disposed of. From plate to plate there
was a fair degree of textual variation depending on year of
manufacture, locomotive type, and builder. Greatly prized were
the much larger and considerably more splendid examples recovered
from the earlier types of Garratt. It should be mentioned that
several replicas were cast in the 1970s, many being duplicates of
those affixed to various locomotives preserved in the RR/NRZ
Museum - and indeed, certain of the museum locomotives carry
replica plates, the originals either having been sold or simply
'gone'.
From 1945 all RR steam locomotives began to be fitted with
three-note, step-top (usually) chime whistles. Prior to this most
carried one or two single-note whistles, the reason for the
change purportedly to give a louder warning to animals on the
track. The new whistles were very similar (but not identical) to
the South African pattern. Diesels have various styles of hooter,
presumably collectable because a few years ago someone was caught
trying to steal one from the preserved DE.2 No 1200 in the NRZ
Museum!
One distinctive characteristic of many steam engines from 1910
onwards was that either side of the smokebox they bore a brass
monogram with the ornate interwoven initials 'RR', 'MR', or
'BRT', the latter identifying the 'Beit Railway Trust' (or
perhaps 'Trustees') which financed the purchase of that
particular locomotive. All surviving monograms were removed in
the mid-1970s and early 1980s and either sold or presented to
interested parties. In yet another effort to boost Museum
finances a number of replica monograms were cast - these are
often distinguishable by being of bronze rather than brass and
sometimes lacking the curved profile to fit the smokebox.
From observation as well as study of old photogaphs, it seems
likely that monograms were affixed to all newly-built locomotives
as follows:
- BRT: second batch of 8th Class; 9th Class; 9A Class; first
three batches of 10th Class; 11th Class; first (and second?)
batch of 12th Class; 13th Class.
- MR: some of the 12th Class, possibly second and certainly
third batch.
- RR: last batch of 10th Class; 11A Class; last batch of 12th
Class; 19th Class; all Beyer Garratts except 13th, 17th, and 18th
Classes.
In addition, reference to the finance behind the purchase of
locomotives was indicated by small rectangular plates, although
it is by no means clear where they were attached. Two patterns
have been traced, one being 5 1/4in x 1 1/2in with the
inscription 'Beit Railway Trustees' and the other 3 1/2in x 1
1/2in with lettering 'RR Trust'. The corners of the plates were
scalloped, and in each case the finish was 'brass, bright
finish'. The writer is indebted to John Williams not only for
painstakingly unearthing data on these plates, but for providing
proof that the smokebox side roundels were officially known as
'monograms'.
Less usual bits and pieces survive, but not always in the
hands of steam enthusiasts. In recent years gauge glass
protectors began to disappear because someone discovered that
they make very good windshields for lighted candles...
