South African Class 4E

Between 1952 and 1954 the South African Railways placed forty Class 4E electric locomotives with a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement in service.^[3]

Manufacturer

The Class 4E 3 kV DC electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by the General Electric Company (GEC) and built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) between 1952 and 1953. They were delivered between 1952 and 1954 and numbered E219 to E258. It was amongst the most powerful electric locomotives in the world at that time.^[2][3]

Orientation

These dual cab locomotives have two large grilles on one side and a passage linking the cabs on the opposite side. The number 1 end is at the front when the side with the grilles is to the right. Like the Class 1E, Class 2E and Class 3E, the Class 4E has bogie mounted draft gear and an articulated inter-bogie linkage, therefore no train forces are transmitted to the locomotive body.^[2]

It has a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement, with an additional bissel truck (pony truck) at the outer end of each of the two three axle powered bogies. This makes the Class 4E unique amongst South African electric locomotives.^[3]

Service

The Class 4E was specifically built for use on the main line from Cape Town across the Hex River Pass to Touws River, from where Class 25 and Class 25NC steam locomotives took over across the stretch of unelectrified main line to De Aar and from there to either Kimberley or Bloemfontein.^[3]

The first locomotives to be delivered were placed in service on the Natal main line while electrification from Worcester to Touws River was being completed, but they eventually had to be withdrawn from Natal because the severe curvature of the Natal main line caused their frames to crack.^[4]

Number E219 was the first Class 4E to be relocated to Cape Town, where it initially ran on the 1.5 kV DC that was at that stage still being used for the Cape Town suburban trains. This restricted its load and mobility, until the upgrading of the lines to 3 kV DC was completed in November 1954.^[4]

One Class 4E locomotive even briefly served on the Western Transvaal system while being relocated from Natal to the Cape in 1957, when that system was granted permission to use number E247 for between four and six weeks before the locomotive was forwarded on to Cape Town.^[5]

Hex River Tunnel scheme

The Class 4E purchase was part of a scheme to eliminate the 1 in 40 (2½%) gradients and severe curves of the Hex River Pass, that entailed the construction of a series of four tunnels through the Hex River Mountains, which would have enabled a single Class 4E locomotive to haul 1,000 ton trains up the resulting 1 in 66 (1½%) gradients.^[3]

The Hex River Tunnels scheme was initially started in 1945, but was abandoned three years later due to a lack of funds after the project encountered serious technical difficulties at the eastern portal of the longest of the four tunnels. The portal was dug immediately adjacent to the N1 national road some 15 kilometres (9 miles) west of Touws River. The tunnel bore was hardly more than about 20 metres (66 feet) deep, however, when ground water flooding brought tunnelling to a halt, and the project was eventually abandoned.^[6]

The project was only resumed some thirty years later, with the eastern portal of the longest tunnel relocated a short distance to the southeast of the original site, while the location of the western portal remained as originally planned during the first attempt. The tunnel system was opened on 27 November 1989, by which time the Class 4Es were already retired after spending their entire careers double heading trains up the Hex River Pass.^[3]

Liveries

The Class 4E was delivered in a bottle green livery. The colour and the almost 22 metres (72 feet) length of the Class 4E quickly earned it the nickname Groen Mamba (Green Mamba). This changed to Groot Mamba (Large Mamba) when the much shorter Class 5E was introduced in 1955 and nicknamed Klein Mamba (Little Mamba).^[7]

Soon after they entered service, however, Hex River Valley farmers complained that the bottle green all over colour scheme made them difficult to see when approaching through the vineyards. Yellow lines were then added all around the locomotive to improve its visibility, with various line patterns being used before eventually settling on the "V" shaped whiskers on the ends that extended onto the sides, and multiple lines around the number plates on the sides.^[8]

Beginning in 1960, a Gulf Red and yellow livery gradually replaced the green and yellow.^[3]

Gallery

The main picture shows E238 at rest at the Salt River Depot in Cape Town on 7 January 1966.

See also

• Electric locomotive numbering and classification
• Hex River Tunnels
• List of South African locomotive classes

References

1. ^ North British Locomotive Company works list, compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Bernhard Schmeiser
2. ^ ^{a b c} 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
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Locomotives of the South African Railways (Leith Paxton & David Bourne, 1985), pp126-127, ISBN 0 86977 211 2
4. ^ ^{a b} South African Railways & Harbours Photo Journal, Vol. 6, p15, by Les Pivnic
5. ^ South African Railways & Harbours Photo Journal, Vol. 19, p9, by Les Pivnic
6. ^ Hex River Tunnels
7. ^ Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide, 2002 Edition, (Compiled by John N. Middleton), 4E photograph, as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009
8. ^ South African Railways & Harbours Photo Journal, Vol. 7, pp16-17, by Les Pivnic