The South African Railways Class of 1980 is a diesel-electric locomotive.

Beginning in August 1980, the South African Railways placed 101 Class General Motors Electro-Motive Division type SW1002 diesel-electric locomotives in service. In 1984, one Class locomotive was also built for the Bophuthatswana National Development Corporation for use at the Ga-Rankuwa Industrial Estate. Three more were placed in service by Iscor in Pretoria between 1986 and 1991, and another two by the Ithala Development Finance Corporation in KwaZulu-Natal in 1987.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

Manufacturers The Class type SW1002 diesel-electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) and all but one were built by General Motors South Africa (GMSA) in Port Elizabeth. The exception was the third type SW1002 locomotive to be built for Iscor in Pretoria which was delivered from in Argentina.

The 101 locomotives for the SAR were built in two batches on two orders. The first 50 were built between 1980 and 1982 and numbered in the range from to . Another 51 were built between 1982 and 1984 and numbered in the range from to . It is unclear why such an odd number of locomotives were ordered.

Apart from the SAR locomotives, several were also built for industry. A single locomotive was built for the Bophuthatswana National Development Corporation (BNDC) in Ga-Rankuwa and delivered in 1984. Two locomotives, which had been ordered by Iscor in Pretoria, were delivered in 1986, numbered and . Two locomotives, which had been ordered by the Ithala Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) in KwaZulu-Natal, were delivered in 1987 and numbered 1 and 2. The Argentinian-built locomotive was delivered to Iscor by GM-Astarsa in 1991 and numbered .

Class 36 series The Class 36 locomotive group consists of two series, the General Electric (GE) Class and the GM-EMD Class . Both manufacturers also produced locomotives for the South African Classes 33, 34 and 35.

Service South African Railways Class locomotives are general purpose locomotives, equipped with two-station controls for bi-directional operation, which are used mainly for yard shunting and pickup work to service industrial customers. When placed in service, the SAR locomotives were initially distributed for service between the Western and Eastern Cape and the Eastern Transvaal Lowveld, but the Cape locomotives were later relocated to Natal, Gauteng, the North West Province and Limpopo.

On the Natal South Coast they were at one time employed in road work between Durban and Port Shepstone, working in pairs or in trios.

Industry The three Iscor locomotives were later hired out to African Rail & Traction Services (ARTS), based in a workshop at the Iscor Pretoria works, and renumbered in the range from 21 to 23. ARTS has a fleet of about twenty locomotives which are used on hire contracts. By early 2002, ARTS locomotives were employed at the Rustenburg Platinum Mine in the North West Province, at Iscor in Pretoria where it took over the entire railway operation, and at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal in KwaZulu-Natal.

The BNDC locomotive did not remain in service in Bophuthatwana very long before it went to Columbus Stainless in Middelburg, Transvaal.

The IDFC locomotives were later sold to Sheltam, where they were numbered 24 and 25 and later renumbered to 1003 and 1004.

Works numbers Apart from on their works plates, the builder’s works number was also stamped on their frames, but instead of the builder’s serial they used the last three digits of the unit’s number. No. 36-209 was therefore stamped 115-209 instead of 115-9. Some of these numbers were reverse stamped, for example as . Units so noted were numbers 234, 235, 240, 241 and 245-115 and numbers 251, 257 and 270-118.

The Class builder’s works numbers, dates or years built and the distribution of the non-SAR industrial locomotives are listed in the table. The dates, as shown, were recorded off the respective locomotive works plates.Actual dates recorded off locomotive works plates by Peter Bagshawe +Class 36-200, GM-EMD type SW1002Loco no.BuilderDateWorksno.Hired orsold toNewno.36-201 GMSA1980115-1 36-202 GMSA1980115-2 (115-202)36-203 GMSA1980115-3 36-204 GMSA1980115-4 36-205 GMSA115-5 36-206 GMSA1980115-6 36-207 GMSA1980115-7 36-208 GMSA1980115-8 36-209 GMSA115-9 (115-209)36-210 GMSA1980115-10 36-211 GMSA115-11 36-212 GMSA115-12 36-213 GMSA115-13 36-214 GMSA115-14 36-215 GMSA1981115-15 36-216 GMSA1981115-16 36-217 GMSA1981115-17 36-218 GMSA115-18 36-219 GMSA115-19 36-220 GMSA115-20 36-221 GMSA115-21 36-222 GMSA115-22 36-223 GMSA1981115-23 36-224 GMSA1981115-24 36-225 GMSA115-25 36-226 GMSA115-26 36-227 GMSA1981115-27 36-228 GMSA115-28 36-229 GMSA115-29 36-230 GMSA115-30 36-231 GMSA115-31 36-232 GMSA115-32 36-233 GMSA115-33 36-234 GMSA115-34 (234-115) 36-235 GMSA115-35 (235-115)36-236 GMSA115-36 36-237 GMSA1981115-37 36-238 GMSA115-38 36-239 GMSA115-39 36-240 GMSA1981115-40 (240-115)36-241 GMSA115-41 (241-115)36-242 GMSA115-42 36-243 GMSA115-43 36-244 GMSA115-44 36-245 GMSA115-45 (245-115)36-246 GMSA115-46 36-247 GMSA1982115-47 36-248 GMSA1982115-48 36-249 GMSA1982115-49 36-250 GMSA1982115-50 36-251 GMSA118-1 (251-118)36-252 GMSA1982-83118-2 36-253 GMSA1982-83118-3 36-254 GMSA1982-83118-4 36-255 GMSA1982-83118-5 36-256 GMSA1982-83118-6 36-257 GMSA1982-83118-7 (257-118)36-258 GMSA1982-83118-8 36-259 GMSA1982-83118-9 36-260 GMSA1982-83118-10 36-261 GMSA1982-83118-11 36-262 GMSA1982-83118-12 36-263 GMSA1982-83118-13 36-264 GMSA1982-83118-14 36-265 GMSA1982-83118-15 36-266 GMSA1982-83118-16 36-267 GMSA1982-83118-17 36-268 GMSA1982-83118-18 36-269 GMSA1982-83118-19 36-270 GMSA118-20 (270-118)36-271 GMSA118-21 36-272 GMSA1983-84118-22 36-273 GMSA1983-84118-23 36-274 GMSA1983-84118-24 36-275 GMSA1983-84118-25 36-276 GMSA1983-84118-26 36-277 GMSA1983-84118-27 36-278 GMSA1983-84118-28 36-279 GMSA1983-84118-29 36-280 GMSA1983-84118-30 36-281 GMSA1983-84118-31 36-282 GMSA1983-84118-32 36-283 GMSA1983-84118-33 36-284 GMSA1983-84118-34 36-285 GMSA1983-84118-35 36-286 GMSA1983-84118-36 36-287 GMSA1983-84118-37 36-288 GMSA1983-84118-38 36-289 GMSA118-39 (118-289)36-290 GMSA1983-84118-40 36-291 GMSA1983-84118-41 36-292 GMSA1983-84118-42 36-293 GMSA1983-84118-43 36-294 GMSA1983-84118-44 36-295 GMSA1983-84118-45 36-296 GMSA1983-84118-46 36-297 GMSA118-47 36-298 GMSA1984118-48 36-299 GMSA1984118-49 36-300 GMSA1984118-50 36-301 GMSA118-51 BNDC GMSA1984120-1 Columbus1661-45GMSA1986 122-1 ARTS21661-46 GMSA1986 122-2 ARTS22661-47 Astarsa199191F1AA001ARTS23 IDFC 1GMSA1987123-1 Sheltam1003IDFC 2GMSA1987123-2 Sheltam1004

Liveries All the Class 36-200 locomotives were delivered in the SAR Gulf Red livery with signal red buffer beams, yellow side stripes on the long hood sides and a yellow V on each end. In the 1990s many of them began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the buffer beams. Several later received the Spoornet maroon livery. In the 2000s at least one was repainted in the Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers on the sides. After 2008 in the Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) era, some began to appear in the TFR red, green and yellow livery.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 9. South-Eastwards as far as Volksrust (2nd part) by Les Pivnic. Caption 4. (Accessed on 11 April 2017)

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