Between June 1965 and January 1966 the South African Railways placed sixty-five Class 33-000 GE U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service.

Manufacturer

The South African Class 33-000 type GE U20C

GE Universal Series locomotives

The GE Universal Series locomotives were diesel locomotives launched by GE in early 1956.Initially, there were nine U-series models: U4B, U6B, U9B, U9C, U12B, U12C, U18B, U18C and UD18B. They were designed to be readily adaptable to different track gauges for export markets. The U5B and U8B...

 diesel-electric locomotive was designed and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 (GE) and imported. Sixty-five of these locomotives were delivered between June 1965 and January 1966, numbered 33-001 to 33-065.

Class 33 series

The Class 33 consists of three series, the GE Class 33-000 and 33-400

South African Class 33-400

Between July 1968 and March 1970 the South African Railways placed one hundred and fifteen Class 33-400 GE U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service...

 and the Electro-Motive Diesel Class 33-200

South African Class 33-200

Between October 1966 and May 1967 the South African Railways placed twenty Class 33-200 EMD GL26MC diesel-electric locomotives in service.- Manufacturer :...

. Both these manufacturers also produced locomotives for the subsequent SAR Classes 34, 35 and 36.

Service

The Class 33-000 was initially used to dieselise the Cape Midlands region. When the Class 34-000

South African Class 34-000

Between July 1971 and March 1973 the South African Railways placed one hundred and twenty-five Class 34-000 GE U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service.- Manufacturer :...

 arrived, the Class 33-000s were transferred to the Transvaal, and some later to the Cape Western system.

In the SAR era the inner parts of locomotive number plates were often unofficially painted in various colours to indicate the region the locomotive was allocated to. Number 33-014 saw service in several regions over the years.

Most of these locomotives survived in main and branch line service well into the twenty-first century, for example on the lines from De Aar to Upington and from Worcester to George. Several still see service with Spoornet Traction, whose locomotives operate in several Southern African countries. Others were employed as heavy shunters to assemble iron ore trains at the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore route's terminals until the arrival of the Class 15E

South African Class 15E

In 2010 Transnet Freight Rail placed the first of seventy-six Class 15E 50 kV AC heavy electric freight locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in service on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line.-Manufacturers:...

 in 2010 made more Class 34-000 locomotives available for this task. A few were leased to Sudan Railways and to COMILOG in Gabon

Gabon

Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...

.

Class 33-000 GE U20C
Works numbers and disposition

SAR no	GE works no	Post SAR owner	Post SAR no
33-001	35457
33-002	35458
33-003	35459	Retired
33-004	35460	Sudan Ry	3506
33-005	35461	Retired
33-006	35462
33-007	35463
33-008	35464
33-009	35465
33-010	35466	Congo
33-011	35467
33-012	35468	Congo
33-013	35469
33-014	35470
33-015	35471
33-016	35472
33-017	35473
33-018	35474
33-019	35475	Retired
33-020	35476
33-021	35477	Retired
33-022	35478
33-023	35479	Congo
33-024	35480	Retired
33-025	35481
33-026	35482	Retired
33-027	35483	COMILOG
33-028	35484	Sudan Ry	3501 to 3
33-029	35485	Retired
33-030	35486
33-031	35487	Congo
33-032	35488
33-033	35489
33-034	35490
33-035	35491
33-036	35492
33-037	35493	COMILOG
33-038	35494
33-039	35495	Congo
33-040	35496
33-041	35497
33-042	35498
33-043	35499
33-044	35500
33-045	35501
33-046	35502	Sudan Ry	3501 to 3
33-047	35503	Retired
33-048	35504	Sudan Ry	3501 to 3
33-049	35505
33-050	35506	Sudan Ry	3504
33-051	35507
33-052	35508	Scrapped
33-053	35509	Congo
33-054	35510	Sudan Ry	3505
33-055	35511
33-056	35512
33-057	35513	Congo
33-058	35514
33-059	35515
33-060	35516	Congo
33-061	35517
33-062	35518	Congo
33-063	35519
33-064	35520
33-065	35521	Congo

Liveries

The main picture shows 33-025 at Bellville, still in the as delivered SAR Gulf Red and whiskers livery.

See also

• South African Class 33-200
  South African Class 33-200
  Between October 1966 and May 1967 the South African Railways placed twenty Class 33-200 EMD GL26MC diesel-electric locomotives in service.- Manufacturer :...
  
   (EMD)
• South African Class 33-400
  South African Class 33-400
  Between July 1968 and March 1970 the South African Railways placed one hundred and fifteen Class 33-400 GE U20C diesel-electric locomotives in service...
  
   (GE)
• Diesel-electric locomotive numbering and classification
• List of South African locomotive classes