The South African Railways Class 8X 2-8-0 of 1901 was a steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.

[1][5] They were conceived as mixed traffic locomotives, equally suitable for goods and passenger work, and had bar frames, narrow fireboxes and used saturated steam.

The boiler was equipped with 3 inches (76 millimetres) Ramsbottom safety valves, while its feedwater was supplied by two Cape pattern Gresham & Craven's no.

The slide valves, operated by Stephenson Link motion, were on top of the cylinders and employed rocker shafts.

The balance weight for the Stephenson motion was seldom used on American locomotives and was replaced by a powerful coiled spring.

[5][6] The spark arresters were made from perforated plate, arranged in V-shape and attached to movable wings which were hinged to the blast pipe so that they could be moved aside when the tubes were being cleaned.

While subjecting these first sixteen locomotives to exhaustive testing on all types of traffic and under varying conditions, some trouble was experienced with the leading pony truck.

[1][3] In the designs of all but two of the subsequent orders for more 8th Class locomotives, the two-wheeled pony truck was replaced by a four-wheeled bogie.

At the same time, it was converted to a 4-8-0 Mastodon type wheel arrangement by replacing the leading pony truck with a bogie.