Port Elizabeth Harbour 0-4-0ST

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Port Elizabeth Harbour 0-4-0ST

The Port Elizabeth Harbour Board operated eight small steam shunting locomotives, classed as 0-4-0ST, built between 1894 and 1902 for use at Port Elizabeth Harbour in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. They were used to move ships and cargo around the harbour.

Builders and numbers
- The eight locomotives came from several manufacturers:
- Fox, Walker and Company
- Andrew Barclay Sons & Co
- Lowca Engineering Company
- Black, Hawthorn & Co
- Chapman & Furneaux
- Hudswell, Clarke & Co
- They carried PEHB numbers A, B, C and then D–G, followed by M and N, with CGR and SAR renumberings later adding extra prefixes.
- Original CGR numbers ranged from 1012 to 1022, and in the 1912 SAR renumbering these became 01012 to 01022 (the leading zero marked them as SAR stock).

Service history
- Eight locomotives entered harbour shunting service between 1894 and 1902.
- In 1908 the locomotives were taken onto the Cape Government Railways (CGR) roster and renumbered 1012–1022.
- When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the three colonial railways were united under the South African Railways (SAR). In 1912, for the SAR classification and renumbering, these engines were given numbers with a leading zero (01012–01022).
- In 1904, one loco (no. 4/G) was loaned to the Kowie Railway Company at Port Alfred and used as a yard engine there; it returned to Port Elizabeth in 1910.
- In June 1914, SAR no. 01017 was transferred to Mosselbaai Harbour; the others remained in PE Harbour service.
- In 1929, SAR no. 01021 was sold to Rhodesia Railways for use as a shop engine at Mafeking, and it was scrapped in 1940.

Notes on origins and numbering
- The eight PEHB locomotives were built by several different firms, and there has been historical confusion about the exact builder of some early-numbered units. In particular, locomotives numbered 1012 and 1013 were long described as Peckett locomotives, but later research suggests different origins for those two; 1014 is associated with Lowca Engineering.
- The early confusion stems from records in the 1912 renumbering lists, where builder names on the parts or replacement components may have led to incorrect attributions. The locomotives are now understood to come from Fox, Walker; Andrew Barclay; Lowca Engineering; Black, Hawthorn; Chapman & Furneaux; and Hudswell, Clarke.

Summary
- The Port Elizabeth Harbour 0-4-0STs were small, harbour-mounted steam shunters built for PE Harbour between 1894 and 1902. They moved onto the CGR roster by 1908 and were renumbered under SAR in 1912. A few units saw service outside Port Elizabeth, but most remained in PE Harbour until later years, with one eventually sold to Rhodesia Railways and scrapped in 1940.