South African Class 33-200

Class 33-200 no. 33-212 and Class 33-000 no. 33-023, 8 January 1970

Type and origin
Power type	Diesel-electric
Designer	General Motors Electro-Motive Division
Builder	General Motors Electro-Motive Division
Serial number	31191-31210
Model	GM-EMD GL26MC
Build date	1966-1967
Total produced	20

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	13,900 mm (45 ft 7.2 in)
• Bogie	3,607 mm (11 ft 10.0 in)
Pivot centres	10,516 mm (34 ft 6.0 in)
Wheel spacing (Asymmetrical)	1-2: 1,600 mm (5 ft 3.0 in) 2-3: 2,007 mm (6 ft 7.0 in)
Length:
• Over couplers	17,474 mm (57 ft 4.0 in)
Width	2,819 mm (9 ft 3.0 in)
Height	3,943 mm (12 ft 11.2 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)
Fuel type	Diesel
Fuel capacity	4,300 litres (950 imp gal)
Prime mover	EMD 16-645E
RPM range	315-900
• RPM low idle	315
• RPM idle	435
• Maximum RPM	900
Engine type	2-stroke diesel
Displacement	10.57 litres (645.0 cu in)
Generator	DC 12 pole GM-EMD D-32S
Traction motors	Six GM-EMD D-29CC-7 DC 4 pole
• Rating 1 hour	485A
• Continuous	450A @ 19 km/h (12 mph)
Cylinders	V16
Gear ratio	57:16
MU working	4 maximum
Loco brake	28-LV-1 with vigilance control
Train brakes	Gardner-Denver ADJV-8003 compressor/exhauster
Air tank cap.	450 litres (99 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	1,640 kW (2,200 hp)
• Continuous	1,490 kW (2,000 hp)
Tractive effort:
• Starting	223 kN (50,000 lbf) @ 25% adh.
• 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	165 kN (37,000 lbf) @ 30 km/h (19 mph)

Career
Operators	South African Railways Spoornet Sheltam SitaRail, Côte d'Ivoire Sudan Railways Nkana Mine
Class	Class 33-200
Number in class	20
Numbers	33-201 to 33-220
Nicknames	Brommer
Delivered	1966-1967
First run	1966
Withdrawn	c. 2000

The South African Railways Class 33-200 of 1966 was a diesel-electric locomotive.

Between October 1966 and May 1967 the South African Railways placed twenty Class 33-200 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GL26MC diesel-electric locomotives in service.^[1]

Manufacturer

The Class 33-200 type GM-EMD GL26MC diesel-electric locomotive was designed and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) and imported. They were delivered between October 1966 and May 1967 and numbered in the range from 33-201 to 33-220.^[1]

Class 33 series

The Class 33-200 was the first GM-EMD diesel-electric locomotive to be placed in service by the SAR. The Class 33 consisted of three series, the General Electric (GE) Class 33-000 and 33-400 and the GM-EMD Class 33-200. Both manufacturers also produced locomotives for the subsequent SAR Classes 34, 35 and 36.^[1]

Of the three series, the Class 33-200 was the only one to be delivered with a high short hood.^[1]

Service

South African Railways

The Class 33-200 locomotives spent their entire SAR working lives operating out of East London. After some of the locomotives were sold by the SAR, their dynamic braking equipment, located in the high short hood, was removed by some of the new owners and the short hoods were rebuilt to low noses. In the process their starting power output was reduced from 1,640 to 1,490 kilowatts (2,200 to 2,000 horsepower).^[2]^[3]

Between 1991 and 1992, the remaining Spoornet locomotives were similarly modified and placed in shunting service around East London. All of them were eventually withdrawn and sold by Spoornet and several are still operating in other parts of Africa.^[2]

Sheltam

Of the original twenty locomotives, eleven were still in service with Sheltam by 2010, two having first served at Douglas Colliery as numbers D8 and D9. Sheltam is a locomotive leasing and repair company. All their serving Class 33-200 locomotives have had their short hoods modified to low noses.^[2]^[4]

Three more locomotives were bought by Sheltam for spare parts and are believed now to be scrapped. Sheltam initially numbered all their locomotives from no. 1 upwards, but have since renumbered them according to their horsepower.^[2]

Other operators

Of the remainder, four locomotives went to SitaRail in Côte d'Ivoire, one to the Sudan Railways and one to the Nkana mine of Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia.^[2]

Works numbers

The Class 33-200 builder's works numbers and disposition are listed in the table.^[2]

**Class 33-200, type GM-EMD GL26MC**
SAR No.	GM-EMD works no.	Post-SAR owner	Post-SAR no.	Sheltam new no.
33-201	31191	Sheltam	Spare parts
33-202	31192	SitaRail	CC 2001
33-203	31193	Sheltam	1	2001
33-204	31194	SitaRail	CC 2003
33-205	31195	Sheltam	14	2008
33-206	31196	Sheltam	8	2004
33-207	31197		D8
33-208	31198	Sheltam	Spare parts
33-209	31199	SitaRail	CC 2004
33-210	31200	Sheltam	15	2009
33-211	31201		D9
33-212	31202	Nkana	1
33-213	31203	Sheltam	13	2007
33-214	31204	SitaRail	CC 2002
33-215	31205	Sheltam	12	2006
33-216	31206	Sheltam	3	2003
33-217	31207	Sheltam	2	2002
33-218	31208	Sheltam	16	2010
33-219	31209	Sheltam	17	2011
33-220	31210	Sudan Ry

Illustration

The main picture shows Class 33-200 no. 33-212 on 8 January 1970 with its original high short hood and in the SAR Gulf Red livery, leading General Electric-built Class 33-000 no. 33-023 on a passenger train near Vincent, Eastern Cape. The following pictures show some of these locomotives with low short hoods in various liveries.

No. 33-203 in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers, Cambridge depot, East London, 26 December 1996
No. 33-215 in Spoornet orange livery, Cambridge depot, East London, 26 December 1996
Ex SAR no. 33-219, now Sheltam no. 2011, Kamina, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2 September 2010

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 33-200.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 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
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 38, 45, 47.
^ Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. p. 140. ISBN 0869772112.
^ Sheltam Company Profile

Locomotives of South Africa

Steam

7' ¼" gauge	East London 0-4-0VB Table Bay 0-4-0ST Table Bay 0-4-0T Table Bay 0-4-0WT
Standard gauge	Cape 0-4-0T Blackie Cape 0-4-2 Cape 2-4-0T CGR 0-4-0ST Aid Natal 0-4-0ST Durban Natal 0-4-0WT Natal Natal 4-4-0T Perseverance
Cape gauge Tank engines	CGR 0-4-0ST 1873 CGR 0-4-0ST 1874 CGR 0-4-0ST 1881 CGR 0-4-0ST 1881 Coffee Pot CGR 0-6-0ST CGR 0-6-0T CGR 2-6-0ST 1900 CGR 2-6-0ST 1902 CGR 1st Class 0-4-0ST 1875 CGR 1st Class 0-4-0ST 1876 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0ST CGR 1st Class 4-4-0T CGR 2nd Class 4-4-0T CGR 3rd Class 2-6-0T CGR Railmotor CSAR Class C CSAR Class E CSAR Rack 4-6-4RT CSAR Railmotor Durban's Congella Durban's Edward Innes Durban's John Milne Durban's Sir Albert Port Elizabeth 0-4-0ST Kowie Railway 0-6-0T Kowie Railway 4-4-0T Metropolitan & Suburban 4-6-2T NGR 2-6-0T Durban & Pietermaritzburg NGR Class I 2-6-2T NGR Class K 0-4-0ST NGR Class K 0-6-0ST NGR Class K 2-6-0T NZASM 10 Tonner NZASM 13 Tonner NZASM 14 Tonner NZASM 18 Tonner NZASM 19 Tonner NZASM 32 Tonner NZASM 40 Tonner PPR 26 Tonner PPR 35 Tonner Portuguese SAR Class A SAR Class B SAR Class C SAR Class C1 SAR Class C2 SAR Class D SAR Class E SAR Class F SAR Class G SAR Class H SAR Class H1 SAR Class H2 SAR Class J SAR Class K SAR Railmotor SAR Dock 0-4-0ST SAR Dock 0-4-0T SWA 2-8-0T
Cape gauge Tender engines	CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 BP CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 Kitson CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1879 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1891 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0TT CGR 2nd Class 2-6-2TT CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1883 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1884 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1889 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1898 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1901 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1903 CGR 4th Class 4-4-2 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1880 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 Joy CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1884 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1890 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1891 NGR Havelock NGR Class I SAR Class Exp 1 SAR Class Exp 2 SAR Class Exp 3 SAR Class Exp 4 SAR Class Exp 5 SAR Class Exp 6 SAR Class S SAR Class S1 SAR Class S2 SAR Class 1 SAR Class 1A SAR Class 1B SAR Class 2 SAR Class 2C SAR Class 3 SAR Class 3A SAR Class 3B SAR Class 4 SAR Class 4A SAR Class 5 SAR Class 5A SAR Class 5B SAR Class 6 SAR Class 6A SAR Class 6B SAR Class 6C SAR Class 6D SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6F SAR Class 6G SAR Class 6H SAR Class 6J SAR Class 6K SAR Class 6L SAR Class 6Y SAR Class 6Z SAR Class 7 SAR Class 7A SAR Class 7B SAR Class 7C SAR Class 7D SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7F SAR Class 8 SAR Class 8A SAR Class 8B SAR Class 8C SAR Class 8D SAR Class 8E SAR Class 8F SAR Class 8R SAR Class 8X SAR Class 8Y SAR Class 8Z SAR Class 9 SAR Class 10 SAR Class 10A SAR Class 10B SAR Class 10C SAR Class 10D SAR Class 11 SAR Class 12 SAR Class 12A SAR Class 12B SAR Class 13 SAR Class 14 SAR Class 14A SAR Class 14B SAR Class 14C 1st SAR Class 14C 2nd SAR Class 14C 3rd SAR Class 14C 4th SAR Class 15 SAR Class 15A SAR Class 15B SAR Class 15C SAR Class 15CA SAR Class 15E SAR Class 15F SAR Class 16 SAR Class 16A SAR Class 16B SAR Class 16C SAR Class 16D SAR Class 16DA 1928 SAR Class 16DA 1930 SAR Class 16E SAR Class 17 SAR Class 18 SAR Class 19 SAR Class 19A SAR Class 19B SAR Class 19C SAR Class 19D SAR Class 20 SAR Class 21 SAR Class 23 SAR Class 24 SAR Class 25 SAR Class 25NC SAR Class 26 SAR Katanga SWA 2-8-0
Cape gauge Articulated engines	CGR Fairlie CGR Kitson-Meyer SAR Class FC SAR Class FD SAR Class GA SAR Class GB SAR Class GC SAR Class GCA SAR Class GD SAR Class GDA SAR Class GE SAR Class GEA SAR Class GF SAR Class GG SAR Class GH SAR Class GK SAR Class GL SAR Class GM SAR Class GMA SAR Class GO SAR Class HF SAR Class KM SAR Class MA SAR Class MB SAR Class MC SAR Class MC1 SAR Class MD SAR Class ME SAR Class MF SAR Class MG SAR Class MH SAR Class MJ SAR Class MJ1 SAR Class U
2' 6" gauge	Cape Copper John King & Miner Cape Copper Britannia Cape Copper Caledonia Cape Copper Clara Cape Copper Condenser Cape Copper Scotia Namaqua Copper Pioneer Walvis Bay 2-4-2T Hope
2' & 600mm gauges	ACR Class NG-G16A CGR NG 0-4-0T CGR NG 0-6-0T CGR NG 4-6-2T CGR Type A 2-6-4T CGR Type C 0-4-0T NGR Class N 4-6-2T SAR Dutton SAR NG 0-4-0T SAR Class NG1 SAR Class NG2 SAR Class NG3 SAR Class NG4 SAR Class NG5 SAR Class NG6 SAR Class NG7 SAR Class NG8 SAR Class NG9 SAR Class NG10 SAR Class NG-G11 SAR Class NG-G12 SAR Class NG-G13 SAR Class NG-G14 SAR Class NG15 SAR Class NG-G16 SWA Class Ha SWA Class Hb SWA Class Hc SWA Class Hd SWA Jung SWA Zwillinge

Electric

Amcoal Class E38

Gas-electric

SAR Gas-electric

Diesel

Cape 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 TFR Class 45-000
2' gauge Diesel-electric	SAR Class 91-000
Cape gauge Diesel-hydraulic	SAR Class 61-000
Cape gauge Electro-diesel	Spoornet Class 38-000

v t e Locomotives built by GM-EMD (EMD)
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Six axle road switchers	SD7 SD9 SD18 SD24 SD28 SD35 SDP35 SD38 SD38AC SD38-2 SD39 SDL39 SD40 SD40A SD40-2 SD40-2W SD40T-2 SD40-2S SDP40 SD45 SD45X SD45-2 SD45T-2 SDP45 SD50 SD60 SD70 SD80MAC SD89MAC SD90MAC
Eight axle road switchers	DD35 DD35A DDA40X
Cab units (E- & F-units)	FT F2 F3 F7 FP7 F9 FP9 FL9 TA EA/EB E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 AA AB6
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Electrics	SW1200MG AEM-7 GM5FC GM6C GM10B GF6C
Industrial, military, export and narrow gauge	Model 40 DH1 DDM45 GM6W GMDH-1 GMDH-3 MRS-1 GA8 G8 G12 G16 NF110 NF210 JT42CWR (Series 66) JT42HW-HS GL26C-2 GL26MC GT18MC GT26MC GT26M2C GT26CU-3 GT-16 GA-12 GA-12b GT46MAC GT46PAC DDM45 GL8 JL8 JL18 JT22CW JT42HCW JT56ACe SDP28 SDP38
Streamliners	M-10000 M-10001 M-10002 M-10003 to M-10006 Pioneer Zephyr General Pershing Zephyr Green Diamond Flying Yankee Aerotrain (LWT12)
Experimentals and rebuilds	EMC 1800 hp B-B Beep (SWBLW) CF7 GP8 GP10 GP11 GP16 GP15D GP20D GP22ECO GP39X GP40X BL1 BL20-2 SD20 SD20-2 SD22ECO SD26 SD40X SD45X
List of EMD locomotives

This page was last edited on 21 January 2024, at 15:25