Zeus

Zeus was completed in 1991 and is the sister engine to Offa. It’s one of the most regularly used engines at the railway and is a popular choice with drivers and passengers alike.

Although she is Offa’s sister, Zeus is styled in a South African Railways guise complete with a S.A.R detailing. These range from brass gazelles adorning the smokebox, handrails, and a Vanderbilt tender with six wheeled bogies.

One of its most stand out characteristics however has to be its 5/8 scale S.A.R whistle that can be regularly heard throughout the year.

Zeus carries the S.A.R black livery and when it was first built it was finished with a black smokebox. More recently Zeus carries the distinctive silver smokebox that is well known on the South African Railways.

Zeus takes its name from the god of the sky, lightning and thunder in Ancient Greek religion.

• Builder: Narogauge Ltd, 1991
• Dimensions: length 201″ x width 26″ x height 47″
• Wheel diameters: leading 6″, driving 10″, trailing 6″
• Number of tubes: 22x 1¼” diameter
• Grate area: 155 in²
• Coal capacity: 224 lbs
• Water capacity: 60 gallons
• Boiler diameter: 15″
• Boiler pressure: 120 lbs/in²
• Valve gear: Walschaerts
• Cylinder bore: 4¾”
• Cylinder stroke: 4¼”
• Tractive effort: 997 lbs
• Livery: Unlined Black