South African Class 36-000


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.

Manufacturer

The Class type GE SG10B diesel-electric locomotive was designed by General Electric and built for the South African Railways in three batches by the South African General Electric-Dorman Long Locomotive Group. 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 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.

Loco no.		Works
no.		Year
built
36-001404201975
36-002404211975
36-003404221975
36-004404231975
36-005404241975
36-006404251975
36-007404261975
36-008404271975
36-009404281975
36-010404291975
36-011404301975
36-012404311975
36-013404321975
36-014404331975
36-015404341975
36-016404351975
36-017404361975
36-018404371975
36-019404381975
36-020404391975
36-021404401975
36-022404411975
36-023404421975
36-024404431975
36-025404441975
36-026404451975-78
36-027404461975-78
36-028404471975-78
36-029404481975-78
36-030404491975-78
36-031404501975-78
36-032404511975-78
36-033404521975-78
36-034404531975-78
36-035404541975-78
36-036404551975-78
36-037404561975-78
36-038404571975-78
36-039404581975-78
36-040404591975-78
36-041404601975-78
36-042404611975-78
36-043404621975-78
36-044404631975-78
36-045404641975-78
36-046404651975-78
36-047404661975-78
36-048404671975-78
36-049404681975-78
36-050404691975-78
36-051404701975-78
36-052404711975-78
36-053404721975-78
36-054404731975-78
36-055404741975-78
36-056404751975-78
36-057404761975-78
36-058404771975-78
36-059404781975-78
36-060404791975-78
36-061404801975-78
36-062404811975-78
36-063404821975-78
36-064404831975-78
36-065404841975-78
36-066404851975-78
36-067404861975-78
36-068404871975-78
36-069404881975-78
36-070404891975-78
36-071404901975-78
36-072404911975-78
36-073404921975-78
36-074404931975-78
36-075404941975-78
36-076404951975-78
36-077404961975-78
36-078404971975-78
36-079404981975-78
36-080404991975-78
36-081405001975-78
36-082405011975-78
36-083405021975-78
36-084405031975-78
36-085405041975-78
36-086405051975-78
36-087405061975-78
36-088405071975-78
36-089405081975-78
36-090405091975-78
36-091405101975-78
36-092405111975-78
36-093405121975-78
36-094405131975-78
36-095405141975-78
36-096405151975-78
36-097405161975-78
36-098405171975-78
36-099405181975-78
36-100405191975-78
36-101413801981
36-102413811981
36-103413821981
36-104413831981
36-105413841981
36-106413851981
36-107413861981
36-108413871981
36-109413881981
36-110413891981
36-111413901981
36-112413911981
36-113413921981
36-114413931981
36-115413941981
36-116413951981
36-117413961981
36-118413971981
36-119413981981
36-120413991981
36-121405861981
36-122405871981
36-123405881981
36-124405891981

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 and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa era, many were repainted in the TFR red, green and yellow livery and at least one was repainted in the PRASA blue livery.

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.