to 1344. They were numbered SAR NG14 to NG16. This last order also included the final two of the Class NG8 4-6-0 tender locomotives which were delivered with Kerr, Stuart works numbers 1345 and 1346. Characteristics These locomotives were virtually identical to the Hawthorn Leslie Side Tanks, except for their boiler and firebox design. The boiler pitch had been raised from to to make a larger firebox possible. They had outside plate frames, Belpaire fireboxes and used Walschaerts valve gear. The most obvious visual differences from the Hawthorn Leslie locomotives were the higher side tanks, the less ornate sand boxes on top of the boiler and the Belpaire firebox hump. As built, they had no headlamps, but some were later equipped with the large oil headlamps which were in use on the SAR at the time. Classification When the Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, the three Colonial government railways (Cape Government Railways, NGR and Central South African Railways) were united under a single administration to control and administer the railways, ports and harbours of the Union. Although the South African Railways and Harbours came into existence in 1910, the actual classification and renumbering of all the rolling stock of the three constituent railways were only implemented with effect from 1 January 1912. In 1912, narrow-gauge locomotives were included in the SAR's narrow-gauge numbering scheme, but were not classified. They retained their existing engine numbers, but with an "NG" number prefix for narrow gauge. The two locomotives which had been delivered in 1911, listed as "Late Administration S.A.R. numbers 10 and 11" in the renumbering lists, were therefore renumbered NG10 and NG11. The system of grouping SAR narrow-gauge locomotives into classes was only adopted somewhere between 1928 and 1930 and, at that point, these seven locomotives were designated Class NG4. Service Railways The Class NG4 was placed in service on the Alfred County Railway of which the first section to Paddock was opened on 8 November 1911, to work from Port Shepstone on the Natal South Coast to Harding. With the exception of no. NG12, all remained working on the three Natal narrow-gauge branches for their entire service lives. First World War In 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the German South West Africa colony was occupied by the Union Defence Forces. Since a large part of the territory's railway infrastructure was