South African Class 38-000

The South African Class 38-000 of 1992 is a South African electro-diesel locomotive from the Spoornet era.

Between 1992 and 1994 Spoornet placed fifty Class 38-000 dual mode locomotives in service. They are still the only dual powered electro-diesel locomotives in use by Transnet Freight Rail, capable of running either on 3 kV DC electricity off the catenary or on diesel fuel alone.^[1]

Manufacturer

The 3 kV DC Class 38-000 electro-diesel locomotive was designed for Spoornet by Consortium under the leadership of Siemens and built by Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal.^[1][2]

Fifty locomotives entered service between 1992 and 1994, numbered in the range from 38-001 to 38-050. UCW did not allocate builder’s or works numbers to the locomotives it built for Spoornet, but used the Spoornet unit numbers for their record keeping.^[1]

Service

The Class 38-000 was designed as a multi-purpose locomotive to replace steam on pickup work on the Witwatersrand, but it was also capable of long distance mainline work. For operation in the diesel-only mode, it was powered by a 780 kilowatts (1,050 horsepower) Caterpillar type DITA 3508 prime mover.^[1]

The diesel-only ability was to allow them to pick up and shunt wagons from unelectrified industrial sidings. Most of the locomotives were allocated to Gauteng depots at Germiston, Pyramid South and Krugersdorp, with a lone locomotive serving at Bloemfontein in the Free State.^[3]

Builders’ plates on no. 38-040

The Class 38-000 loco­motives were not used only for shunting and pickups. Shortly after entering service they were used to haul the "Witblitz" shipping container express train all the way between Johannesburg and Cape Town. This saved time by avoiding the need to change locomotives at Beaufort-West and Kimberley in order to negotiate the 25 kV AC section between these two centres, since it could be traversed in diesel-only mode.^[4]

Even though the Class 38-000 is usually limited to a top speed of 100 kilometres per hour (62 miles per hour), the "Witblitz" regularly attained speeds of 120 kilometres per hour (75 miles per hour) on some sections. Although the "Witblitz" express trains have long been discontinued, some of the 120 km/h speed limit boards were still in existence between Potchefstroom and Worcester as late as 2005.^[4]

For a number of years the Class 38-000 also became the prime motive power on trains 5558 and 5559, the PX speed-freight overnight container trains between Durban Goods and Johannesburg's City Deep. It was found that the Class 10Es that were previously used on this duty, could not achieve the 140 kilometres per hour (87 miles per hour) speeds at which these fifty-wagon trains were booked. These trains were the Natal Corridor (NATCOR) equivalent of the "Witblits" trains.^[5]

In 1998 forty of these locomotives, numbers 38-011 to 38-050, and a number of electric locomotives were sold to Maquarie-GETX (General Electric Finance) and leased back to Spoornet for a ten-year period that expired in 2008.^[3]

By 2012 Class 38-000 locomotives still often ran with full loads on the mainlines between Broodsnyersplaas and Welgedacht and to the Sentrarand classification yards in Gauteng.^[4]

Dates in service

The Class 38-000 years built, as shown on their builder's plates, and dates in service, where known, are shown in the table.^[3]

Class E38 locomotives

During the production of the Class 38-000 for Spoornet, UCW also built three Class E38 electric locomotives for Amcoal Mines for use at the Landau Colliery near Witbank, Mpumalanga. The Class E38 electric locomotive is identical in appearance and dimensions to the Class 38-000, but was designed for 3 kV DC electric operation only.^[3]

Liveries illustrated

The main picture shows no. 38-001 in Spoornet orange livery, running in diesel mode at Kaalfontein on 7 October 2009. Other liveries that were applied to Class 38-000 locomotives are illustrated below.

• 

  No. 38-008 in Spoornet blue with outline numbers at Leeuhof, Vereeniging, 10 May 2009

• 

  No. 38-012 in Transnet Freight Rail livery at Sentrarand, Gauteng, 18 May 2013

See also

• Electro-diesel locomotive numbering and classification
• List of South African locomotive classes
• South African Class E38
• South African locomotive history

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South African Class 38-000

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