South African Class 33-000 Explained

South African Class 33-000
Powertype:Diesel-electric
Designer:General Electric
Builder:General Electric
Serialnumber:35457-35521
Buildmodel:GE U20C
Builddate:1965-1966
Totalproduction:65
Aarwheels:C-C
Uicclass:Co'Co'
Britishclass:Co+Co
Wheeldiameter:9151NaN1
Wheelbase:122431NaN1
Bogie:35051NaN1
Wheelspacing:1-2: 15941NaN1
2-3: 19111NaN1
Over Couplers:168661NaN1
Pivotcentres:90171NaN1
Width:27561NaN1
Height:39311NaN1
Axleload:15749kg (34,721lb)
Locoweight:94494kg (208,324lb) max
Fueltype:Diesel
Fuelcap:3600L
Primemover:GE 7FDL-12
Rpmrange:400-1,000
Rpmrange Low:400
Rpmrange Max:1000
Enginetype:4 stroke diesel
Aspiration:C-B ET13 turbocharger
Generator:DC 10 pole GE 5GT-581C9
Tractionmotors:Six GE 5GE-761A6 DC 4 pole
T/M Amps 1 Hr:635A
T/M Amps Cont:620A @ 20km/h
Cylindercount:V12
Gear Ratio:92:19
Multipleworking:4 maximum
Locobrakes:28-LV-1 with vigilance control
Dynamicpeakeffort:173kN @ 26km/h
Trainbrakes:Westinghouse 6CDX4UC compressor/exhauster
Reservoircap:700L
Compressorcap:0.029m3/s
Exhaustercap:0.116m3/s
Coupling:AAR knuckle (SASKOP DS)
Maxspeed:100km/h
Poweroutput Start:1605kW
Poweroutput Cont:1490kW
T/E Starting:223kN @ 25% adhesion
T/E Continuous:178kN @ 24km/h
F/Adh Starting:25%
F/Adh Continuous:20%
Locobrakeforce:70% ratio @ 345kPa
Operator:South African Railways
Spoornet
Spoornet Traction
Transnet Freight Rail
COMILOG, Gabon
Sudan Railways
Zambia Railways
TransNamib
Operatorclass:Class 33-000
Numinclass:65
Fleetnumbers:33-001 to 33-065
Nicknames:Bosvark
Deliverydate:1965-1966
Firstrundate:1965

The South African Railways Class 33-000 of 1965 was a diesel-electric locomotive.

In 1965 and 1966, the South African Railways placed sixty-five General Electric type U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service.[1]

Manufacturer

The South African Class 33-000 type GE U20C diesel-electric locomotive was designed and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by General Electric (GE) and imported. Sixty-five of these locomotives were delivered between June 1965 and January 1966, numbered in the range from to .[1] [2]

Class 33 series

The Class 33 family consisted of three series, the GE-built Classes and and the General Motors Electro-Motive Division-built Class 33-200. Both manufacturers also produced locomotives for the subsequent SAR Classes 34, 35 and 36.

The two GE-built Classes were virtually identical in appearance, but could be distinguished from each other by some ventilation openings on their bodywork.

These doors and panels could get swapped between models and sometimes did, either as replacement for damaged items or by chance during overhauls.

Service

In South Africa

The Class 33-000 was initially used to dieselise the Cape Midland region. When the Class 34-000 entered service in 1971, the Class 33-000 locomotives were relocated to Transvaal and some later to the Cape Western system.

In the SAR era, the inner parts of cabside locomotive number plates were often unofficially painted in various colours to identify the depot to which the locomotive was allocated. Judging from the flaked paint on the plate in the picture alongside, no. 33-014 saw service in several regions over the years.[1]

Most of these locomotives survived in mainline and branch line service well into the twenty-first century, for example on the lines from De Aar to Upington and on the branch line from Worcester to Voorbaai. Some were later employed as heavy shunting engines to assemble or unload iron ore trains at the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line's terminals, until the arrival of the Class on that line in 2011 made more GE-built Class 34 locomotives available for this task.

Outside South Africa

Between October 1978 and May 1993, Zambia Railways (ZR) hired locomotives to solve its chronic shortages in motive power, mainly from South Africa but at times also from Zaire, Zimbabwe, the TAZARA Railway and even the Zambian copper mines. In Zambia, the South African locomotives were mainly used on goods trains between Livingstone and Kitwe, sometimes in tandem with a ZR locomotive and occasionally also on passenger trains.

Locomotives were selected from a pool of engines which were allocated by the Railways for hire to Zambia. The South African fleet in Zambia was never constant since locomotives were continually exchanged as they became due back in South Africa for their three-monthly servicings.[3]

The locomotives were initially selected from the Classes 33-400, 35-000 and 35-200, but by December 1989 some Class locomotives also began to serve one or more tours of duty in Zambia. The pool of Class locomotives which were allocated by the Railways for hire to Zambia from time to time included the unit numbers as shown in the table.[3]

Until c. 2015, several still saw service with Spoornet Traction whose locomotives operate in several Southern African countries. A few were leased to Sudan Railways on a long-term contract as a result of the distance from South Africa, while others were sold to COMILOG in Gabon.

Mozambique

In 2013 some Class 33-000 locomotives were sold to Corredor de Desenvolvimento do Norte (CDN) at Nacala in northern Mozambique. CDN operates a rail link with the land-locked Malawi to the west. These locomotives were refurbished in South Africa prior to being delivered to their new owners.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

In 2015, some Class 33-000 and Class 33-400 locomotives were sold to the Congolese Company for Transportation and Ports (SCTP, formerly Onatra) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These locomotives were also refurbished in South Africa prior to being delivered to their new owners.

Withdrawal

Although some of the locomotives had been sold to other operators over the years, most of the class remained in South African service for more than fifty years. During 2015, when sufficient numbers of new GE-designed Class locomotives had entered service, several of the remaining Class 33-000 units were sold to, amongst others, TransNamib in Namibia and the Congolese Company for Transportation and Ports (SCTP, formerly Onatra) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most of these locomotives were refurbished in South Africa prior to being delivered to their new owners.

Liveries

The class 33-000 were delivered in the new Gulf Red livery with yellow side-stripes on the long hood, a yellow V on each end, signal red buffer beams and unpainted steel cowcatchers. Most of them wore this livery throughout their SAR service life. In the Spoornet era, some of those leased to other countries were painted in a maroon livery with yellow and blue chevron buffer beams and inscribed "Spoornet Traction" on the long hood sides.[4]

Works numbers

The Class 33-000 builder's works numbers, service in the Zambia Railways leasing pool and known eventual disposition are listed in the table.

Notes and References

  1. South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610 mm and 1065 mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
  2. https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-6-1/part-3-the-harbour-wests-the-bluff-and-cato-creek-to-congella-featuring-the-sar-h-harbour-craft Soul of A Railway, System 6, Part 3: Durban Harbour, Wests, the Bluff & Cato Creek to Congella; featuring SAR & H Harbour Craft. Caption 94.
  3. Spoornet Diesels Leased to ZR 1978–1993. P.F. Bagshawe.
  4. https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/home/system-7-1/system-7-part-6-germiston-the-steam-and-diesel-running-sheds Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 6. Germiston, the Steam and Diesel Running Sheds by Les Pivnic. Caption 33.

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