South African Class 39-000

South African Class 39-000
39-005 at Capital Park, Pretoria, circa January 2010
Power type Diesel-electric
Designer Electro-Motive Diesel
Builder General Motors South Africa
Serial number See table in text
Model EMD GT26MC as built
EMD GT26CU-3 rebuilt
Build date 1974-1980
Total produced 5
Rebuilder Transwerk
Transnet Rail Engineering
Rebuild date 2005-2008[1]
Number rebuilt 5
UIC classification Co+Co interlinked bogies
Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge
Wheel diameter 1,016 mm (40.0 in)
Wheelbase 14.732 m (48 ft 4.0 in)
Length 19.202 m (63 ft 0 in)
Axle load 21,000 kg (20.7 long tons)
Locomotive weight 126,000 kg (124.0 long tons) maximum
Fuel type Fuel oil
Fuel capacity 7,400 litres (2,000 USgal)
Prime mover EMD 645-E3B 2 stroke V16
Engine type Diesel
Displacement 10.570 litres (645.0 cu in) per cylinder
169.12 litres (10,320 cu in) total
Traction motors Six EMD D31 DC 4 pole
Power output 2,460 kW (3,300 hp)
Tractive effort 350 kN (79,000 lbf) starting
305 kN (69,000 lbf) continuous
Factor of
adhesion		 25% starting, 20% continuous
Locomotive brakes Knorr-Bremse EBR
Safety systems ZTR Nexsys control system
Career Spoornet
Transnet Freight Rail
Class Class 39-000
Number in class 5
Number 39-001 to 39-005
Delivered 2006-2008
First run 2006

In 2005 Transwerk commenced a project of rebuilding one hundred existing locomotives to new Class 39-000 EMD GT26CU-3 locomotives for Spoornet. Only five were eventually rebuilt and placed in service between April 2006 and 2009.[1][2]

Contents

Manufacturer

One hundred Class 39-000 type EMD GT26CU-3 diesel-electric locomotives were to be rebuilt for Spoornet from Class 34-600, 34-800 and 37-000 locomotives, all designed by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) and built by General Motors South Africa (GMSA) in Port Elizabeth between 1974 and 1981. The project commenced in 2005, using suitable frames from wrecked locomotives.[1][2][3]

Rebuilding

Number 39-251

Two companies were invited to produce prototypes for the project. One was Electro-Motive Sibanye, a joint venture between EMD and Sibanye Trade and Services, a South African Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) company dealing with locomotives and spares. The Sibanye venture produced only one locomotive, rebuilt from Class 37-000 number 37-010 in 2008 and numbered 39-251. The locomotive was tested, but rejected by Transnet, reportedly due to poor quality. Furthermore, when serious tender irregularities came to light, the locomotive rebuilding deal between Transnet and Sibanye was cancelled.[1][2][4][5]

Number 39-251 never worked for Transnet and was later reported as sold to RRL, a company that came out of the abortive joint venture between EMD and Sibanye. RRL, based at a workshop in the old Pretoria Steel Works complex and with several of its locomotives active around Welkom in the Free State, was reported in 2011 as having hired out the locomotive to one of the platinum mines.[1]

Numbers 39-001 to 39-005

The other company was Transwerk, later Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE), who produced five locomotives at its Bloemfontein shops between 2006 and 2008, rebuilt from three Class 34-600 and two Class 34-800 locomotives. These five were tested and approved by Transnet and placed in service between April 2006 and 2009 as Class 39-000 numbers 39-001 to 39-005.[1][2]

It was intended to produce one hundred Class 39-000 locomotives, but in spite of the technical success of the TRE part of the project, rebuilding was halted after completing the first five locomotives, allegedly due to higher than anticipated cost. It was decided, instead of rebuilding one hundred old locomotives, to rather continue the program by building fifty new Class 39-200 locomotives from imported and locally produced components. This was to take place at the Koedoespoort shops of Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE).[6]

Features

Improvements over the pre-rebuilt locomotives that are offered in the Class 39-000 include microprocessor control, 26% more maximum continuous tractive effort and 15% more tractive horse-power, and a Knorr-Bremse electronic brake rack (EBR) to replace the old pneumatic braking controls.[7]

Locomotives rebuilt

Three Class 34-600 and two Class 34-800, all wrecked locomotives, were rebuilt to Class 39-000. The lineage of each Class 39-000 locomotive can be visually determined by the difference in thickness of their left side sills, namely the thicker fishbelly shaped left sills of the ex Class 34-600 compared to the straight left sills of the ex Class 34-800.[2][8][9]

Class 34-600 & 34-800 locomotives rebuilt to Class 39-000
Class
34 No.		 Works
No.		 Class
39 No.
34-635 EMD 101035 39-001
34-838 EMD 112-38 39-002
34-674 EMD 101074 39-003
34-620 EMD 101020 39-004
34-829 EMD 112-29 39-005

Service

The Class 39-000 locomotives were initially placed in service on the Pretoria to Komatipoort line to Maputo in Mozambique, to work in conjunction with Class 37-000 locomotives on the heavy grades on the Belfast to Steelpoort section in Mpumalanga. The intention was to redeploy them to the Thabazimbi iron ore line once the Class 39-200 were placed in service.[7][10]

Liveries

The main picture shows 39-005 in Transnet Freight Rail livery. Of the five locomotives, only 39-001 was delivered in Spoornet’s blue livery with outline numbers.

See also

References

  1. ^ 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. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Information supplied by staff at Transnet Rail Engineering, Bloemfontein and Koedoespoort
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ Sibanye Order Discontinued
  5. ^ Transnet Tender to High Court
  6. ^ The Class 39 Diesels
  7. ^ a b Spoornet's Class 39
  8. ^ Class 34-600 sill
  9. ^ Class 34-800 sill
  10. ^ TFR Locos