South African Railways class S2 0-8-0 3708

The South African Railways Class S2 0-8-0 of 1952 was a steam locomotive.

In 1952 and 1953, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class S2 shunting steam locomotives with a 0-8-0 wheel arrangement in service.
By 1952, the need arose for shunting locomotives with a light axle load for harbour work, where most of the trackwork was laid with light rail. Under the direction of L.C. Grubb, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the South African Railways (SAR) from 1949 to 1954, specifications were prepared for a light locomotive with the 0-8-0 wheel arrangement which had already been proven successful with the Classes S and S1 shunting engines. To keep the total weight of the engine and tender down to approximately 100 long tons (101.6 tonnes), it was to be equipped with the Watson Standard no. 1 boiler, the smallest of the standard boilers.
Most of the Class S2 locomotives were placed in shunting service in the Durban, Table Bay and Port Elizabeth harbours where they replaced a variety of aged 4-6-0, 4-8-0 and 4-8-2T locomotives. Although about twenty were also allocated to yards on the Witwatersrand and in the Eastern Transvaal where they were employed in light general shunting, the Class S2 became synonymous with harbour shunting from their arrival in 1952 right through to the end of steam in 1982.