South African Class 34-900

The South African Railways Class 34-900 of 1980 is a diesel-electric locomotive.

In 1980 and 1981, the South African Railways placed thirty Class 34-900 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service.^[1]

Manufacturer

The Class 34-900 type GE U26C diesel-electric locomotive was designed by General Electric and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by the South African General Electric-Dorman Long Locomotive Group (SA GE-DL, later Dorbyl). Thirty locomotives were delivered in 1980 and 1981, numbered in the range from 34-901 to 34-930.^[1][2][3][4]

Class 34 series

GE and GM-EMD designs

The Class 34 locomotive family consists of seven series, the GE Classes 34-000, 34-400, 34-500 (also known as 34-400 ex Iscor) and 34-900, and the General Motors Electro-Motive Division Classes 34-200, 34-600 and 34-800. Both these manufacturers also produced locomotives for the South African Classes 33, 35 and 36.^[1]

Distinguishing features

SA GE-DL Builder’s plate on 34-914

As built, the GE Classes 34-000, 34-400 and 34-900 were visually indistinguishable from each other. The ex Iscor Class 34-500 loco­motives could be visually 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.^[5]

At some stage during the mid-1980s, all Class 34-000, 34-400 and 34-500 locomotives had saddle filters installed across the long hood, mounted just to the rear of the screens on the sides behind the cab. Since then, Class 34-900 locomotives could be distinguished from the older models by the absence of the saddle filter.^[5]

Modifications

Fuel capacity

As built, the Class 34-900 has a 5,400 litres (1,200 imperial gallons) fuel tank, while the Class 34-500 was delivered new to Iscor with a 7,000 litres (1,500 imperial gallons) fuel tank, to cope with the lack of en route refuelling points on the Sishen-Saldanha Orex line. To accommodate the larger fuel tank, the inter-bogie linkage, found on all other models, was omitted on the Class 34-500.^[6]

To be usable on the iron ore line, Class 34-900 locomotives 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 below, 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.^[7]

Standard 5,400 litre fuel tank

Enlarged 7,000 litre fuel tank

Running board mounted handrails

Class 34-900 locomotives which are allocated to the Sishen-Saldanha Orex line, are usually modified by having removable running board mounted handrails installed. All South African diesel-electric locomotives have their side handrails mounted along the upper edges of their long hoods. The ex Iscor Class 34-500s, however, came equipped with additional removable running board mounted handrails. Since these handrails are slide-fit into brackets welded onto the running board, they are easily removed.^[1][5]

Since c. 2009, other mainline diesel-electric locomotive types also emerged from the Koedoespoort Transwerk shops after major overhauls with running board mounted handrails.^[8]

Electronic control system

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

Service

Class 34-900 locomotives work on most mainlines and some branchlines in the central, western, southern and southeastern parts of the country. Some eventually joined the Class 34-500 on the 861 kilometres (535 miles) Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line, to haul export ore from the open cast iron mines at Sishen in the Northern Cape to the harbour at Saldanha in the Western Cape.^[4]

On the Sishen–Saldanha Orex line, GE Class 34 series diesel-electric locomotives run consisted to Class 9E and Class 15E electric locomotives, to haul the 342-truck iron ore trains. Each truck has a 100-ton capacity and the trains are at least 3.72 kilometres (2.31 miles) in length, powered by mixed consists of Class 9E and Class 15E electric and type GE U26C Class 34-000, 34-400, 34-500, 34-900 and, from 2012, type GE C30ACi Class 43-000 diesel-electric locomotives. In South Africa, mixed electric and diesel-electric consists are unique to the iron ore line.^[1][9][10]

Ore train about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Lamberts Bay

Works numbers

The Class 34-900 builder’s works numbers are listed in the table.^[2]

Illustration

In the SAR and Spoornet eras, when the official liveries were Gulf Red and whiskers for the SAR, and initially orange and later maroon for Spoornet, many selected electric locomotives and some diesel-electrics were painted blue, for use with the Blue Train, but without altering the layout of the various paint schemes. Blue Train locomotives were therefore blue with yellow whiskers in the SAR era, blue with the Spoornet logo and the name "SPOORNET" in Spoornet’s orange era, and blue with the Spoornet logo, but without the name "SPOORNET", in Spoornet’s maroon era. In Spoornet’s blue era, there was no need for a separate Blue Train livery, while in the Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) era, one Class 14E and the surviving Class 14E1 electric locomotives were eventually repainted in blue during 2012, for use with the Blue Train.^[2]

Seven Class 34-900 locomotives, numbers 34-924 to 34-930, were painted in the SAR Blue Train livery and took the place of the five SAR Blue Train liveried Class 34-000 locomotives, numbers 34-055 to 34-059, which were then all eventually repainted in Spoornet’s orange livery. Some of the Class 34-900 locomotives, numbers 34-925 to 34-927, 34-929 and 34-930, were repainted later in Spoornet’s orange era Blue Train livery, while the other two, numbers 34-924 and 34-928, received the Spoornet blue with outline numbers livery.^[2]

The main picture shows no. 34-926, in Spoornet’s orange era Blue Train livery. Other liveries which were applied to Class 34-900 locomotives, are illustrated below.

• 
  No. 34-914, in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers livery and with handrails, Saldanha, 12 September 2007
• 
  No. 34-917 at Bellville, Cape Town, Western Cape, in Spoornet orange livery, 25 October 2007
• 
  No. 34-928 at Warrenton, Northern Cape, in Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers, 24 August 2007
• 
  "Brite Star" equipped no. 34-913, in Transnet Freight Rail livery at Beaconsfield, Kimberley, 17 September 2015

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 34-900.

Locomotives of South Africa
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Electric	Amcoal Class E38 SAR Class ES SAR Class ES1 SAR Class Exp-AC SAR Class 1E SAR Class 2E SAR Class 3E SAR Class 4E SAR Class 5E s1 SAR Class 5E s2 SAR Class 5E s3 SAR Class 5E1 s1 SAR Class 5E1 s2 SAR Class 5E1 s3 SAR Class 5E1 s4 SAR Class 5E1 s5 SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6E1 s1 SAR Class 6E1 s2 SAR Class 6E1 s3 SAR Class 6E1 s4 SAR Class 6E1 s5 SAR Class 6E1 s6 SAR Class 6E1 s7 SAR Class 6E1 s8 SAR Class 6E1 s9 SAR Class 6E1 s10 SAR Class 6E1 s11 SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7E1 SAR Class 7E2 s1 SAR Class 7E2 s2 SAR Class 7E3 s1 SAR Class 7E3 s2 Spoornet Class 7E4 SAR Class 8E SAR Class 9E s1 SAR Class 9E s2 SAR Class 10E SAR Class 10E1 s1 Spoornet Class 10E1 s2 SAR Class 10E2 SAR Class 11E SAR Class 12E Spoornet Class 14E Spoornet Class 14E1 TFR Class 15E Spoornet Class 16E Spoornet Class 17E Spoornet Class 18E s1 TFR Class 18E s2 TFR Class 19E TFR Class 20E TFR Class 21E TFR Class 22E
Gas-electric	SAR Gas-electric
Diesel	3' 6" gauge Diesel-electric PRASA Class Afro 4000 SAR Class DS SAR Class DS1 SAR Class 31-000 SAR Class 32-000 SAR Class 32-200 SAR Class 33-000 SAR Class 33-200 SAR Class 33-400 SAR Class 34-000 SAR Class 34-200 SAR Class 34-400 SAR Class 34-500 SAR Class 34-600 SAR Class 34-800 SAR Class 34-900 SAR Class 35-000 SAR Class 35-200 SAR Class 35-400 SAR Class 35-600 TFR Class 35-800 SAR Class 36-000 SAR Class 36-200 SAR Class 37-000 Spoornet Class 39-000 TFR Class 39-200 TFR Class 43-000 TFR Class 44-000 2' gauge Diesel-electric SAR Class 91-000 3' 6" gauge Diesel-hydraulic SAR Class 61-000 3' 6" gauge Electro-diesel Spoornet Class 38-000
List of South African locomotive classes South African locomotive numbering and classification