The South African Railways Class 34-400 of 1973 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Between April 1973 and November 1974, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 34-400 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service.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

Manufacturer

The Class 34-400 type GE U26C diesel-electric locomotive was designed by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

(GE) and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by the South African General Electric-Dorman Long Locomotive Group (, later Dorbyl). One hundred locomotives were delivered between April 1973 and November 1974, numbered in the range from to .

Distinguishing features

As built, the GE Classes , and locomotives were visually indistinguishable from each other. The

Class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

locomotives could be distinguished from the other series by the air conditioning units mounted on their cab roofs and initially, when it was still a feature unique to them, by their running board mounted handrails. At some stage during the mid-1980s, all Class , and locomotives had saddle filters installed across the long hood, mounted just to the rear of the screens behind the cab on the sides. Since then, Class locomotives could be distinguished from the older models by the absence of the saddle filter.

Modifications

Fuel capacity

As built, the Class had a fuel tank and interlinked bogies, while the Class was delivered new to Iscor with a fuel tank to cope with the lack of en route refuelling points on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line. To facilitate the larger fuel tank, the inter-bogie linkage found on all other models had to be omitted on the Class 34-500.Information received from John Nicholas Middleton To be usable on the iron ore line, Class units which ended up working there were modified to a similar fuel capacity. The inter-bogie linkage was removed and the fuel tank was enlarged by changing it from saddle-shaped to rectangular box-shaped. To maintain its lateral balance, a slab of metal was attached to each bogie in place of the removed linkage. In the second picture, the weld lines on the end of the enlarged fuel tank as well as the metal slab at the end of the bogie are visible.

Electronic control system

Beginning in 2010, some units were equipped with electronic fuel injection and GE "Brite Star" control systems. On some of the first locomotives to be so modified, externally visible evidence of the modification is a raised middle portion of the long hood.

Service

South African Railways

GE Class work on most mainlines and some branch lines in the central, western, southern and southeastern parts of the country. On the busy line from

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west ...

via

Zeerust Zeerust is a commercial town situated in Ngaka Modiri Molema district North West Province, South Africa. It lies in the Marico valley, approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg. It lies on the N4, the main road link between South ...

Mafeking Mafikeng, officially known as Mahikeng and previously Mafeking (, ), is the capital city of the North West province of South Africa. Close to South Africa's border with Botswana, Mafikeng is northeast of Cape Town and west of Johannesburg. In ...

, the Class 34-400 became the standard motive power.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 24: Krugersdorp-Zeerust-Mafeking (Home Signal), Part 1 by Les Pivnic. Introduction: Engine Power.
(Accessed on 5 May 2017)Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 25: Krugersdorp-Zeerust-Mafeking (Home Signal), Part 2 by Les Pivnic. Caption 56.
(Accessed on 6 May 2017) Some eventually joined the Class on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line, to haul export ore from the open cast iron mines at Sishen near Kathu in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

to the harbour at

Saldanha Saldanha may refer to: Places South Africa * Saldanha Bay, a bay in Western Cape * Saldanha, Western Cape, a town on the bay * Saldanha Bay Local Municipality, the unit of government that administers the Saldanha Bay region Other countries * Sal ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. Here they ran consisted to electric locomotives to haul the 342 wagon iron ore trains. Each wagon has a 100-ton capacity and the trains are at least in length. In South Africa, mixed electric and diesel-electric consists are unique to the iron ore line.Actom Divisions News, 22 July 2010
Information supplied by Orex train crew members

Leased and sold

Eleven Class were leased to the

Kenya Railways Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), also Kenya Railways (KR) is the national railway of Kenya. Established in 1977, KR is a state corporation. History The original Uganda Railway was transformed into the East African Railways and Harbours Corp ...

for some years, regauged to and renumbered in the range from 9501 to 9511. They were returned to Spoornet in April 2002. Several Class were sold into industry. No. went to the Douglas Colliery near Witbank as no. D10. Five went to

Sasol Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Sandton, South Africa. The company was formed in 1950 in Sasolburg, South Africa and built on processes that were first developed by German chemists and engineers in the early ...

at Trichardt near Secunda and two to Blue Circle Cement at Lichtenburg. No. , with the bodywork removed, is used for apprentice training at the

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a small city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as ...

diesel depot.

Works numbers

The Class 34-400 builder's works numbers and known deployment are listed in the table.

Liveries

The Class 34-400 were all delivered in the SAR Gulf Red livery with signal red buffer beams, yellow side stripes on the long hood sides and a yellow V on each end. In the 1990s many of the Class 34-400 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the buffer beams. At least one later received the Spoornet maroon livery. In the late 1990s many were repainted in the Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers on the long hood sides. After 2008 in the

Transnet Freight Rail Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

(TFR) era, many were repainted in the TFR red, green and yellow livery.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 9. South-Eastwards as far as Volksrust (2nd part) by Les Pivnic. Caption 4.
(Accessed on 11 April 2017)

Illustration

File:SAR Class 34-400 34-435.jpg, No. 34-435 in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers livery and without saddle filters at Millsite, Krugersdorp, c. March 1982 File:SAR Class 34-400 34-402.JPG, No. 34-402 at the Transwerk shops in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

, Free State, undergoing a major overhaul, 7 April 2006 File:SAR Class 34-400 34-469.JPG, No. 34-469 (ex

no. 9511) at

Saldanha, Western Cape Saldanha, also known as Saldanha Bay, is a town of 21,636 people, located north of Cape Town on the northern shore of Saldanha Bay, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its situation as a natural sheltered harbour has led to development ...

, in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers, 19 August 2010 File:Class 34-400 34-497.JPG, No. 34-497 in Spoornet orange livery at Cambridge loco depot,

East London, Eastern Cape East London ( xh, eMonti; af, Oos-Londen) is a city on the southeast coast of South Africa in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality of the Eastern Cape province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River ...

, 24 April 2013 File:SAR Class 34-400 34-464.JPG, No. 34-464 shunting at the LaFarge Cement siding at Kaalfontein, Kempton Park,

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

, in Spoornet maroon livery, 21 August 2007 File:Class 34-400 34-418.jpg, Bright Star equipped no. 34-418 in Transnet Freight Rail livery, Saldanha, 10 February 2013

References

{{GE diesels 3370 C-C locomotives Co′Co′ locomotives Co+Co locomotives General Electric locomotives Dorbyl locomotives Cape gauge railway locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1973 1973 in South Africa