The South African Railways Class is a diesel-electric locomotive.

Between June 1975 and 1981, the South African Railways placed 124 Class General Electric type SG10B diesel-electric locomotives in service.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 type GE SG10B diesel-electric locomotive was designed by General Electric (GE) and built for the South African Railways (SAR) in three batches by the South African General Electric-Dorman Long Locomotive Group (SA GE-DL, later Dorbyl). The first one hundred locomotives were delivered between June 1975 and September 1978, numbered in the range from 36-001 to 36-100. These were followed in 1981 by two batches of twenty and four locomotives respectively, numbered in the ranges from 36-101 to 36-120 and 36-121 to respectively.

Class 36 series The Class 36 locomotive family consists of two series, the GE type SG10B Class and the General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) type SW1002 Class . Both manufacturers also produced locomotives for the South African Classes 33, 34 and 35.

Characteristics

The Class is a general purpose locomotive which is equipped with two station controls for bi-directional operation. It is used mainly for yard shunting and pickup work to service industrial customers.

Their large cab windows were designed to afford the crew the maximum all-round field of vision, but in South African summer months the sun can cause much discomfort in the cab. It is not unusual to find a locomotive on yard work with the sun-side windows covered with newspaper taped onto the insides. A few Class locomotives have been observed at Vereeniging and at Port Elizabeth with home depot-applied modifications to their cab roofs in the form of sheetmetal roof extensions to the front and rear to serve as sun-shades.

Service When placed in service, they were initially distributed for service between Natal and the Western Transvaal, but they were later exchanged with Class 36-200 units from the Western and Eastern Cape, the Free State and Western Transvaal where they are still serving.

Works numbers The Class 36-000 builder's works numbers and years built are shown in the table. +Class 36-000, GE type SG10BLoco no.Worksno.Yearbuilt36-00140420 1975 36-00240421 1975 36-00340422 1975 36-00440423 1975 36-00540424 1975 36-00640425 1975 36-00740426 1975 36-00840427 1975 36-00940428 1975 36-01040429 1975 36-01140430 1975 36-01240431 1975 36-01340432 1975 36-01440433 1975 36-01540434 1975 36-01640435 1975 36-01740436 1975 36-01840437 1975 36-01940438 1975 36-02040439 1975 36-02140440 1975 36-02240441 1975 36-02340442 1975 36-02440443 1975 36-02540444 1975 36-02640445 1975–7836-02740446 1975–7836-02840447 1975–7836-02940448 1975–7836-03040449 1975–7836-03140450 1975–7836-03240451 1975–7836-03340452 1975–7836-03440453 1975–7836-03540454 1975–7836-03640455 1975–7836-03740456 1975–7836-03840457 1975–7836-03940458 1975–7836-04040459 1975–7836-04140460 1975–7836-04240461 1975–7836-04340462 1975–7836-04440463 1975–7836-04540464 1975–7836-04640465 1975–7836-04740466 1975–7836-04840467 1975–7836-04940468 1975–7836-05040469 1975–7836-05140470 1975–7836-05240471 1975–7836-05340472 1975–7836-05440473 1975–7836-05540474 1975–7836-05640475 1975–7836-05740476 1975–7836-05840477 1975–7836-05940478 1975–7836-06040479 1975–7836-06140480 1975–7836-06240481 1975–7836-06340482 1975–7836-06440483 1975–7836-06540484 1975–7836-06640485 1975–7836-06740486 1975–7836-06840487 1975–7836-06940488 1975–7836-07040489 1975–7836-07140490 1975–7836-07240491 1975–7836-07340492 1975–7836-07440493 1975–7836-07540494 1975–7836-07640495 1975–7836-07740496 1975–7836-07840497 1975–7836-07940498 1975–7836-08040499 1975–7836-08140500 1975–7836-08240501 1975–7836-08340502 1975–7836-08440503 1975–7836-08540504 1975–7836-08640505 1975–7836-08740506 1975–7836-08840507 1975–7836-08940508 1975–7836-09040509 1975–7836-09140510 1975–7836-09240511 1975–7836-09340512 1975–7836-09440513 1975–7836-09540514 1975–7836-09640515 1975–7836-09740516 1975–7836-09840517 1975–7836-09940518 1975–7836-100 40519 1975–7836-101 41380 1981 36-102 41381 1981 36-103 41382 1981 36-104 41383 1981 36-105 41384 1981 36-106 41385 1981 36-107 41386 1981 36-108 41387 1981 36-109 41388 1981 36-110 41389 1981 36-111 41390 1981 36-112 41391 1981 36-113 41392 1981 36-114 41393 1981 36-115 41394 1981 36-116 41395 1981 36-117 41396 1981 36-118 41397 1981 36-119 41398 1981 36-120 41399 1981 36-121 40586 1981 36-122 40587 1981 36-123 40588 1981 36-124 40589 1981

Liveries The Class 36-000 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 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the buffer beams. From 2007 many were repainted in the Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers on the long hood sides. After 2008 in the Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) era, many were repainted in the TFR red, green and yellow livery and at least one was repainted in the PRASA blue 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)

Class 91-000

Bogies and traction motors from Class locomotives were often used under the narrow gauge Class GE UM6B diesel-electric locomotives when they were being transferred between the Cape and Natal narrow gauge systems. These "Bigfoot bogies" enabled them to travel under their own power on . Bigfoot bogies were also used under the narrow gauge locomotives whenever they had to be exchanged for maintenance purposes, sometimes running under their own power, sometimes hauled dead.

After most of the Class narrow gauge locomotives were withdrawn, one of them was allocated to the Swartkops electric locomotive depot in Port Elizabeth for use as shunting engine. It was also running on Class bogies, but with only one bogie powered.

Illustration The main picture shows no. 36-013 in Transnet Freight Rail livery approaching Rugby in Milnerton from Table Bay Harbour on 4 November 2013. Other liveries which were applied to Class locomotives and the sun-shade depot modification are illustrated below.

References