The South African Railways Class NG2 0-4-2ST of 1897 was a narrow-gauge steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in Transvaal.

Between 1897 and 1901, Arthur Koppel, acting as agent, imported a number of Dickson-built 0-4-2ST narrow-gauge steam locomotives for mines on the Witwatersrand.

[1][2][3][4] Between 1897 and 1901, several narrow-gauge 0-4-2ST steam locomotives, built by Dickson Manufacturing Company of Scranton in Pennsylvania shortly before it merged with seven other manufacturing firms to form the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1901, were delivered to various gold mines on the Witwatersrand by Arthur Koppel, acting as importing agent.

[1][4] In 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the German South West Africa colony was occupied by the Union Defence Forces.

[3][4] The identity of these locomotives is difficult to prove, but the SAR diagram book for the Class NG2 gives dimensions which limit the possibilities to only three of the known Koppel imports.

[6] Historically, the actual two-feet narrow-gauge rail spacing depended on whether or not the track was laid by a metricised country.

Since this modification effectively converted them to tankless tank locomotives, they were equipped with timber-bodied two-axle tenders to carry their water and additional coal.