South African Class 32-000
No. 32-029 and 32-042 at Oudtshoorn, 22 September 2007
Type and origin Power type Diesel-electric Designer General Electric Builder General Electric Serial number 33722-33836 Model GE U18C1 Build date 1959-1961 Total produced 115
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR 1-C+C-1  • UIC (1′Co)+(Co1′)  • Commonwealth 1Co+Co1 Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge Leading dia. 762 mm (30.0 in) Wheel diameter 915 mm (36.0 in) Wheelbase 15,246 mm (50 ft 0.2 in) ​  • Bogie 4,927 mm (16 ft 2.0 in) Pivot centres 8,128 mm (26 ft 8.0 in) Length: ​  • Over couplers 16,866 mm (55 ft 4.0 in) Width 2,756 mm (9 ft 0.5 in) Height 3,924 mm (12 ft 10.5 in) Axle load 12,700 kg (28,000 lb) ​  • Leading 10,160 kg (22,400 lb) Adhesive weight 76,200 kg (168,000 lb) Loco weight 96,520 kg (212,790 lb) max Fuel type Diesel Fuel capacity 4,300 litres (950 imp gal) Prime mover Cooper-Bessemer FVBL-12 RPM range 400-1,000 ​  • RPM low idle 400  • RPM idle 535  • Maximum RPM 1,000 Engine type 4 stroke V12 diesel Aspiration C-B ET13 turbocharger Generator DC 10 pole GE 5GT-581C5 Traction motors Six GE 5GE-761A3 DC 4 pole ​  • Rating 1 hour 600A  • Continuous 590A @ 17 km/h (11 mph) Gear ratio 92:19 MU working 3 maximum Loco brake 6-SLAV-1 with vigilance control Train brakes Westinghouse 6CDX4UC compressor/exhauster Air tank cap. 700 litres (150 imp gal) Compressor 0.039 m3/s (1.4 cu ft/s) Exhauster 0.155 m3/s (5.5 cu ft/s) Couplers AAR knuckle (SASKOP DS)
Performance figures Maximum speed 100 km/h (62 mph) Power output: ​  • Starting 1,475 kW (1,978 hp)  • Continuous 1,340 kW (1,800 hp) Tractive effort: ​  • Starting 183 kN (41,000 lbf) @ 25% adhesion  • Continuous 146 kN (33,000 lbf) @ 27 km/h (17 mph) Factor of adh.: ​  • Starting 25%  • Continuous 20% Brakeforce 60% ratio @ 345 kPa (50.0 psi)
Career Operators South African Railways Spoornet SNCZ, Democratic Republic of the Congo Consortium ARZ Class Class 32-000 Number in class 115 Numbers 32-001 to 32-115 Delivered Nov 1959 to Nov 1961 First run 1959

The South African Railways Class 32-000 of 1959 was a diesel-electric locomotive.

Between November 1959 and November 1961, the South African Railways placed 115 Class 32-000 General Electric type U18C1 diesel-electric locomotives with a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement in service in South West Africa.^[1]

Manufacturer

The South African Class 32-000 type GE U18C1 diesel-electric locomotive was designed and built to South African Railways (SAR) requirements by General Electric (GE) and imported. They were numbered in the range from 32-001 to 32-115.^[1]

Class 32 series

The Class 32 consisted of two series, the high short hood Class 32-000 and the low short hood Class 32-200, both GE products and both with a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement. The short hood end was the front on both versions and both had single station controls.^[1]

The pony truck affair

In the United States of America, the South African Class 32-000 is credited with being a major factor in the demise of the American Locomotive Company (Alco) and the rise of GE in the locomotive building business.^[2]

In the late 1950s South Africa, at the time one of the last bastions of steam traction, planned to embark on a massive dieselisation program. A SAR technical team was sent to Europe and the United States to prepare an assessment of design alternatives, finalise specifications and compile a list of qualified bidders.^[2]

In the United States only Alco, GE and General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD) were considered to be qualified bidders. The SAR was not very enthusiastic about two-stroke cycle prime movers and had a strong preference for Alco's Model 251 prime mover and GE's transmission systems. As a long-time prior supplier of steam locomotives for the SAR, Alco appeared to be virtually assured of receiving the order.^[2]

The SAR's tender for bid was issued in 1957, with two options:^[2]

• 115 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kilowatts) locomotives with a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement; or
• 230 1,000 horsepower (750 kilowatts) locomotives with a Co+Co wheel arrangement

1Co bogie on no. 32-047

These units were intended for operation in South West Africa under very light rail conditions that necessitated lighter axle loadings which could not be achieved with conventional Co bogies under a heavy locomotive. General Steel Castings had a design on paper for a 1Co bogie, a Co bogie with an integral pony truck, which could be utilised by either Alco or GE and which would enable the SAR's specifications to be met for the heavier 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kilowatts) units.^[2]

The SAR made it clear that, despite the two options afforded by the tender, its strong preference was for a 1Co+Co1 locomotive. The use of a pony truck was not universally accepted by Alco's engineering management, however, and the result was that Alco bid on only the Co+Co option and lost out to GE, who had bid on both options.^[2]

In South Africa, this virtually opened the floodgates for GE since more than half of the SAR's vast diesel-electric locomotive fleet which was acquired between 1959 and 1981 were GE products.^[2]

Service

South African Railways

The Class 32-000 was designed specifically for service in SWA and most of them spent their entire SAR working lives there.^[3][4][5]

Some initially entered service at Germiston to work coal trains on the Witbank coal line where electrification was approaching completion. From Germiston they worked all sorts of traffic, including the Trans-Natal Express between Johannesburg and Volksrust. Ten of these units were temporarily allocated to De Aar in the last quarter of 1961 to work the mainline to Beaufort West. Between 1964 and 1976, several were also allocated to the Eastern Transvaal for service around Waterval Boven.^[3][5][6]

Cab of no. 32-021

Of the original 115 locomotives, only five survived into the Spoornet era in the 1990s. In SWA they began to be replaced by the Class 33-400 during the early 1970s. After being withdrawn from Spoornet service, a few were allocated to the National Collection, later the Transnet Heritage Foundation, and two of these, numbers 32-029 and 32-042, still saw occasional service as Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe excursion locomotives based at George, Western Cape. Numbers 32-021 and 32-094 were staged at Danskraal for years and were sold in 2013, believed to be for further use by the buyer.^[3][7]

Post-SAR service

No. 32-013 at Nkana Mine, 30 September 1993

After withdrawal from SAR service in the 1980s, almost fifty of the Class 32-000 locomotives were sold to Zaire's Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois (SNCZ) which became the Société nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo (SNCC) after the country's name change to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Of these at least one, SNCC no. 1405 (ex SAR no. 32-019) was seen on local workings around Lubumbashi in 2013.^[3][7]

Three went to Consortium ARZ (CARZ), an Italian per-way contractor working in Zaire and later also in Zambia.^[3]

Numbers 32-007, 32-010, 32-013, 32-069 and 32-113 went to Zambia, two to Nchanga and three to Nkana, two of the Zambian copper mines, where they were used on the mine systems at Nchanga and Kitwe on both ore trains and miner's passenger trains. The three locomotives at the Nkana Mine retained their SAR numbers. No. 32-013 is depicted alongside on the Nkana-Chibuluma miner's train at Nkana Mine Sidings in Zambia. The coaches behind it are second-hand Tata bus bodies mounted on freight wagon frames and bogies which were initially made for the Mulungushi Commuter train service in Lusaka, which was later taken over by Zambia Railways and renamed Njanji Commuter.^[7]

LEGE in Durban, who operates an active hire and overhaul business, owns two of these locomotives, numbers 32-070 and 32-084. Of these, no. 32-070 has been observed shunting in the Merewent Oil Refinery on the Bluff as late as 2014.^[7]

Liveries

The class 32-000 were delivered in the new Gulf Red livery with yellow side-stripes and a yellow V on each end. They wore this livery throughout their SAR and Spoornet service life.^[5]

Preservation

Four of the Class 32-000's have been preserved.

• 32002 incorrectly numbered 32001 is plinthed in Windhoek in Namibia.
• 32029 is preserved at The Railway Museum in George.^[8]
• 32042 is preserved at the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe Railway in George.^[8]
• 32047 preserved at Voorbaai Loco Depot.^[8]

Works numbers

The Class 32-000 builder's works numbers and known disposition are listed in the table.

Illustration

• 
  No. 32-042 on the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe, 16 February 2005
• 
  No. 32-002 renumbered to 32-001 and plinthed in Windhoek, 20 February 2006^[3]
• 
  No. 32-047 staged at Voorbaai Depot near Mosselbaai, 15 April 2013

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 32-000.