South African Class 33-400 TransNamib Class 33
Rebuilt TransNamib no. 504, ex no. 33-475, nearKeetmanshoop, 2 September 2004
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Designer General Electric Builder SA GE-DL Locomotive Group Serial number 36530-36644 Model GE U20C Build date 1968-1970 Total produced 115
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR C-C  • UIC Co'Co'  • Commonwealth Co+Co Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)Cape gauge Wheel diameter 915 mm (36.0 in) Wheelbase 12,243 mm (40 ft 2.0 in) ​  • Axle spacing (Asymmetrical) 1-2: 1,594 mm (5 ft 2.8 in) 2-3: 1,911 mm (6 ft 3.2 in)  • Bogie 3,505 mm (11 ft 6.0 in) Pivot centres 9,017 mm (29 ft 7.0 in) Length: ​  • Over couplers 16,866 mm (55 ft 4.0 in) Width 2,756 mm (9 ft 0.5 in) Height 3,931 mm (12 ft 10.8 in) Axle load 15,749 kg (34,721 lb) Adhesive weight 94,494 kg (208,324 lb) Loco weight 94,494 kg (208,324 lb) max Fuel type Diesel Fuel capacity 3,600 litres (790 imp gal) Prime mover GE7FDL-12 RPM range 400-1,000 ​  • RPM idle 400  • Maximum RPM 1,000 Engine type 4 stroke diesel Aspiration Elliott H-584turbocharger Generator DC 10 pole GE 5GT-581C9 Traction motors Six GE 5GE-761A6 DC 4 pole ​  • Rating 1 hour 635A  • Continuous 620A @ 20 km/h (12 mph) Cylinders V12 Gear ratio 92:19 MU working 6 maximum Loco brake 28L-AV-1 with vigilance control Train brakes Westinghouse 6CDX4UC compressor/exhauster Air tank cap. 825 litres (181 imp gal) Compressor 0.029 m3/s (1.0 cu ft/s) Exhauster 0.116 m3/s (4.1 cu ft/s) Couplers AAR knuckle (SASKOP DS)
Performance figures Maximum speed 100 km/h (62 mph) Power output: ​  • Starting 1,605 kW (2,152 hp)  • Continuous 1,490 kW (2,000 hp) Tractive effort: ​  • Starting 223 kN (50,000 lbf) @ 25% adhesion  • Continuous 178 kN (40,000 lbf) @ 24 km/h (15 mph) Factor of adh.: ​  • Starting 25%  • Continuous 20% Brakeforce 70% ratio @ 345 kPa (50.0 psi) Dynamic brake peak effort 173 kN (39,000 lbf) @ 26 km/h (16 mph)
Career Operators South African Railways Spoornet TransNamib Transnet Freight Rail Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica (Brazil) América Latina Logística (Brazil) Ferroviaria Oriental (Bolivia) Sociedad Química y Minera (Chile) Kumba Iron Ore Sudan Railways Zambia Railways Class Class 33-400 Number in class 115 Numbers 33-401 to 33-515 Nicknames Bosvark Delivered 1968-1970 First run 1968

TheSouth 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 Class33-400 General Electric type U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service. Many of them were transferred toTransNamib, theNamibian Railways, upon South West Africa’s independence on 21 March 1990.^[1]

The Class 33-400 typeGE U20C diesel-electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) byGeneral 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 from33-401 to33-515.^[1]

The Class 33 consisted of three series, the GEClasses33-000 and33-400 and theGeneral Motors Electro-Motive DivisionClass33-200. Both manufacturers also produced locomotives for the subsequent SAR Classes 34, 35 and 36.^[2]

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 Class33-400 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 Class33-000 and press-formed louvre openings on the Class33-400.

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 Class33-000 no. 1436, illustrated alongside.

Upon being commissioned, many of the Class33-400 locomotives were placed in service inSouth West Africa (SWA) while some went to theMafeking line working out ofJohannesburg. Forty-five of them were eventually transferred toTransNamib, theNamibian 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 inWindhoek and renumbered from no. 501 up.^[3][4]

The two cabside number plates on Class33-400 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 Class33-400's 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 Class33-400 locomotives survived in mainline and branch line service well into the 21st century, for example on the lines fromDe Aar toUpington, fromWorcester to Voorbaai and on suburban service out ofEast London. From 2009, some were also employed out ofCape Town on theOverberg line acrossSir Lowry's Pass toCaledon and on theBitterfontein line up the West Coast where they replaced severalClasses35-000 and35-400 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 theSishen-Saldanha iron ore line's terminals until the arrival of theClass43-000 in 2011 made moreClasses34-000,34-400,34-500 and34-900 locomotives available for this task.^[3]

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 fromZaire,Zimbabwe, theTAZARA Railway and even the Zambian Copper Mines. In Zambia, the South African locomotives were mainly used on goods trains betweenLivingstone andKitwe, sometimes in tandem with a ZR locomotive and occasionally also on passenger trains.^[5]

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 Classes33-400,35-000 and35-200, but by December 1989 someClass33-000 locomotives also began to serve one or more tours of duty in Zambia.^[5]

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 Class33-400 locomotive to serve in Zambia was no.33-491 which was returned in April 1992. By the end of May 1993, no more South African locomotives were working in Zambia.^[5]

In 1997, twenty Class33-400 locomotives were sold toFerrovia Centro-Atlântica (FCA). They were since resold in 1999 toAmérica Latina Logística (ALL) inBrazil where they retained their FCA engine numbers.^[3]

In 2003, three of these locomotives, ex SAR numbers33-410 (ALL 2663),33-452 (2668) and33-481 (2679), were resold to theFerroviaria Oriental (FOB) inBolivia. Of these, two were resold again toSociedad Química y Minera (SQM) in Chile.^[3][6]

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 toRede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA), the state-owned federal railroad network of Brazil.

Ten Class 33-400 locomotives were sold to theSudan Railways.^[3]

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

Six Class 33-400 locomotives were sold to Iscor (nowKumba Iron Ore) for use at itsVanderbijlpark steel works and at Kumba’s Grootgeluk Colliery atEllisras.^[3]

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.^[7]

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.^[8]

The Class 33-400 builder’s works numbers and eventual disposition are listed in the table.^[3]

The main picture and the following serve to illustrate the distinguishing features of the Class and some of the liveries that they served in.

• 
  No. 33-488 in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers livery at East London, 24 April 2013
• 
  No. 33-507, the only known locomotive of the Class in Spoornet orange livery, at Swellendam, 20 August 2001
• 
  No. 33-500 in Transnet Freight Rail livery at Germiston diesel depot, Gauteng, 1 May 2013
• 
  ALL no. 2670, ex SAR no.33-401, inAmérica Latina Logística livery atTatuí, São Paulo,Brazil, 29 September 2011
• 
  Class 33-400 no. 112, sold to theCorredor de Desenvolvimento do Norte of Nacala, Mozambique, 1 June 2013
• 
  Class 33-400 no. 1435, sold to the Congolese SCTP, at Koedoespoort, 29 September 2015

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• Diesel–electric locomotives of South Africa
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• Cape gauge railway locomotives
• Railway locomotives introduced in 1968
• 1968 in South Africa

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