1926 in South Africa explained

The following lists events that happened during 1926 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George V.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Earl of Athlone.
• Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog.
• Chief Justice: James Rose Innes.

Events

March

• 13  - The first commercial air route from South Africa is established when Alan Cobham does a return flight between London and Cape Town.

October

• 10  - The South African National War Memorial next to Delville Wood outside Longueval, France is opened.
• 10  - The Sabie Game Reserve is renamed to Kruger National Park.

Births

• 23 May  - Joe Slovo, politician, in Obeliai, Lithuania. (d.1995)
• 11 September; Gerrit Viljoen, government minister. (d. 2009)
• 15 October  - Rexon Mathebula, artist, in Sophiatown, Johannesburg.
• 24 December  - Ronald Draper, cricketer

Railways

Railway lines opened

• 18 January  - Transvaal  - Villiers, Free State to Grootvlei, 19miles.^[1]
• 7 June  - Free State  - Harrismith to Warden, 35miles.^[1]
• 18 August  - Cape  - Upington to Kakamas (Narrow gauge), 54miles.^[1]
• 1 September  - Cape  - Addo to Sunland, 6miles.^[1]
• 15 September  - Natal  - Mtubatuba to Candover, 110miles.^[1]
• 19 November  - Cape  - Katberg to Seymour (Narrow gauge), 9miles.^[1]
• 22 November  - Transvaal  - Citrus to Plaston, 17miles.^[1]
• 8 December  - Cape  - Klawer to Landplaas, 50miles.^[1]

Locomotives

Three Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):

• The first twenty-three Class 15CA 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives.
• Four Class FD 2-6-2+2-6-2 Modified Fairlie articulated steam locomotives.
• To address a shortage of suitable shunting locomotives, the first of twenty-one ex Natal Government Railways Class D1 tank locomotives are rebuilt to Class 17 4-8-0 tank-and-tender locomotives.^[2]

Notes and References

1. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 189, ref. no. 200954-13
2. South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2'0" & 3'6" Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, as amended