The South African Railways Class 33-400 of 1968 was a South African and Namibian diesel-electric locomotive.
Between 1968 and 1970, the South African Railways placed 115 Class General Electric type U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service. Many of them were transferred to TransNamib, the Namibian Railways, upon South West Africa’s independence on 21 March 1990.South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
Manufacturer The Class 33-400 type GE U20C diesel-electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by General Electric (GE) and built by the South African General Electric-Dorman Long Locomotive Group (SA GE-DL, later Dorbyl). The 115 locomotives were delivered between July 1968 and March 1970, numbered in the range from to .
Class 33 series The Class 33 consisted of three series, the GE Classes and and the General Motors Electro-Motive Division Class . 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. The Class 33-000 had press-formed louvre openings in both short hood doors on the right hand side of the nose, while the Class had no opening in either of these doors. Just to the rear of the cab on both sides of the long hood and more or less in line with the cab windows, both models had panels with three ventilation openings. These had two horizontal bars in each opening on the Class and press-formed louvre openings on the Class .
These doors and panels could and sometimes did get swapped between models, either as replacement for damaged items or by chance during overhauls. An example is SCTP no. 1435, sold to the Congolese Company for Transportation and Ports (SCTP), illustrated below, of which the left-side door on the nose had apparently been swapped with that of their Class no. 1436, illustrated alongside.
Service
South African Railways Upon being commissioned, many of the Class locomotives were placed in service in South West Africa (SWA) while some went to the Mafeking line working out of Johannesburg. Forty-five of them were eventually transferred to TransNamib, the Namibian Railways, upon SWA’s independence on 21 March 1990. They retained their SAR engine numbers on the TransNamib roster, but without the "33-" prefix. Some have since been sold while others have been rebuilt with reconditioned prime movers by TransNamib's workshops in Windhoek and renumbered from no. 501 up.
The two cabside number plates on Class locomotives were not identical. Usually, all the locomotives in a Class would have either Afrikaans or English at the top of all their number plates. On the Class number plates, the inscription was in Afrikaans at the top on the right hand or driver’s side, and in English at the top on the left hand or driver's assistant's side.
In South Africa, most of the Class locomotives survived in mainline and branch line service well into the 21st century, for example on the lines from De Aar to Upington, from Worcester to Voorbaai and on suburban service out of East London. From 2009, some were also employed out of Cape Town on the Overberg line across Sir Lowry's Pass to Caledon and on the Bitterfontein line up the West Coast where they replaced several Classes and locomotives that were leased to private railway operators in several Southern African countries.
Some were employed for a while 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 in 2011 made more Classes , , and locomotives available for this task.
Zambia 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 was 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 services. The locomotives were initially selected from the Classes , 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 33-400 locomotives allocated by the Railways for hire to ZR from time to time included the locomotives as shown in the "Leased to" column in the table. The last Class locomotive to serve in Zambia was no. which was returned in April 1992. By the end of May 1993, no more South African locomotives were working in Zambia.
South America In 1997, twenty Class locomotives were sold to Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica (FCA). They were since resold in 1999 to América Latina Logística (ALL) in Brazil where they retained their FCA engine numbers.
In 2003, three of these locomotives, ex SAR numbers (ALL 2663), (2668) and (2679), were resold to the Ferroviaria Oriental (FOB) in Bolivia. Of these, two were resold again to Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM) in Chile.
Of these twenty locomotives in South America, ten still survived by July 2010. These include the three units sold to FOB and subsequently resold to EFO and SQM, five locomotives reported as non-operating and two which were returned to Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA), the state-owned federal railroad network of Brazil.
Sudan Railways Ten Class 33-400 locomotives were sold to the Sudan Railways.
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 refurbished in South Africa prior to being delivered to their new owners.
Industrial service Six Class 33-400 locomotives were sold to Iscor (now Kumba Iron Ore) for use at its Vanderbijlpark steel works and at Kumba’s Grootgeluk Colliery at Ellisras.
Preservation One loco Class 33-400 no. 33-487 has been marked down on TRANSnet Heritage Foundation as a historic locomotive set to be preserved in the near future it currently resides at East London - Cambridge.
Liveries The class 33-400 were all delivered in the 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 at least one was painted in Spoornet orange livery with yellow and blue chevron buffer beams and in the Transnet Freight Rail era at least one was painted in its red, green and yellow livery.
Works numbers The Class 33-400 builder’s works numbers and eventual disposition are listed in the table. +Class 33-400, type GE U20CSAR no.Worksno.LeasedtoPost-SARownerPost-SARno.Rebuilt, orResold to:Rebuilt orResold no.33-401 36530 FCA & ALL2670 33-402 36531 TransNamib402 33-403 36532 ZambiaSudan33-404 36533 Sudan33-405 36534 TransNamib405 33-406 36535 ZambiaSudan33-407 36536 ZambiaTransNamib407 TransNamib508 33-408 36537 Sudan33-409 36538 Sudan33-410 36539 FCA & ALL2663FOB (EFO)2009 33-411 36540 Sudan33-412 36541 TransNamib412 33-413 36542 TransNamib413 33-414 36543 TransNamib414 TransNamib503 33-415 36544 Sudan33-416 36545 TransNamib416 33-417 36546 TransNamib417 33-418 36547 33-419 36548 TransNamib419 TransNamib507 33-420 36549 33-421 36550 ZambiaFCA & ALL2661 33-422 36551 ZambiaTransNamib422 TransNamib505 33-423 36552 ZambiaFCA & ALL2680 33-424 36553 Sudan33-425 36554 ZambiaTransNamib425 TransNamib509 33-426 36555 33-427 36556 ZambiaTransNamib427 33-428 36557 FCA & ALL2666 33-429 36558 ZambiaFCA & ALL2665 33-430 36559 TransNamib430 33-431 36560 TransNamib431 33-432 36561 TransNamib432 33-433 36562 FCA & ALL2672 33-434 36563 TransNamib434 TransNamib502 33-435 36564 TransNamib435 33-436 36565 Kumba E7 33-437 36566 ZambiaTransNamib437 33-438 36567 FCA & ALL2669 33-439 36568 ZambiaFCA & ALL2677 33-440 36569 ZambiaSudan33-441 36570 ZambiaTransNamib441 33-442 36571 ZambiaTransNamib442 33-443 36572 ZambiaTransNamib443 33-444 36573 TransNamib444 33-445 36574 ZambiaTransNamib445 33-446 36575 ZambiaTransNamib446 33-447 36576 TransNamib447 33-448 36577 FCA & ALL2664 33-449 36578 ZambiaFCA & ALL2678 33-450 36579 Sudan33-451 36580 FCA & ALL2671 33-452 36581 FCA & ALL2668 FOB & SQM4 or 533-453 36582 TransNamib453 TransNamib501 33-454 36583 Kumba V67 33-455 36584 ZambiaTransNamib455 TransNamib506 33-456 36585 Kumba E4 33-457 36586 ZambiaTransNamib457 33-458 36587 FCA & ALL2675 33-459 36588 TransNamib459 33-460 36589 ZambiaTransNamib460 33-461 36590 Kumba V68 33-462 36591 Kumba V69 33-463 36592 ZambiaTransNamib463 33-464 36593 TransNamib464 33-465 36594 TransNamib465 33-466 36595 FCA & ALL2676 33-467 36596 33-468 36597 TransNamib468 33-469 36598 FCA & ALL2674 33-470 36599 TransNamib470 33-471 36600 Kumba E5 33-472 36601 TransNamib472 33-473 36602 TransNamib473 33-474 36603 TransNamib474 33-475 36604 TransNamib475 TransNamib504 33-476 36605 TransNamib476 33-477 36606 FCA & ALL2673 33-478 36607 TransNamib478 TransNamib511 33-479 36608 TransNamib479 33-480 36609 TransNamib480 33-481 36610 FCA & ALL2679 FOB & SQM4 or 533-482 36611 FCA & ALL2662 33-483 36612 TransNamib483 33-484 36613 TransNamib484 TransNamib510 33-485 36614 FCA & ALL2667 33-486 36615 ZambiaTransNamib48633-487 36616 Zambia33-488 36617 Zambia33-489 36618 ZambiaTransNamib48933-490 36619 Zambia33-491 36620 Zambia33-492 36621 Zambia33-493 36622 ZambiaTransNamib49333-494 36623 ZambiaTransNamib49433-495 36624 Zambia33-496 36625 Zambia33-497 36626 Zambia33-498 36627 Zambia33-499 36628 Zambia33-500 36629 Zambia33-501 36630 Zambia33-502 36631 Zambia33-503 36632 Zambia33-504 36633 Zambia33-505 36634 Zambia33-506 36635 Zambia33-507 36636 Zambia33-508 36637 Zambia33-509 36638 Zambia33-510 36639 ZambiaTransNamib33-511 36640 Zambia33-512 36641 Zambia33-513 36642 Zambia33-514 36643 Zambia33-515 36644 Zambia
Illustration The main picture and the following serve to illustrate the distinguishing features of the Class and some of the liveries that they served in.
References