South African Class 32-200

The Class 32-200 type GE U20C1 diesel-electric locomotive was designed and built to South African Railways (SAR) requirements by General Electric (GE) and imported. The ten locomotives were numbered in the range from to . ==Class 32 series==

The Class 32 consisted of two series, the high short hood Class and the low short hood Class , both GE products and both with a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement. Both had single station controls. The Class 32-200 was a more powerful low short hood version of the earlier Class and was essentially a Class locomotive on the bogies of the Class . This reduced its maximum axle load from the of the Class 33-000 to . Apart from the bogies which necessitated a smaller fuel tank, its physical dimensions and exterior appearance were identical to that of the Class and it used the same V12 prime mover. ==Service==

South African Railways While it was acquired specifically for service on light rail in South West Africa, the Class 32-200s also ended up being employed in South Africa at times. From 1972 to 1974, between the withdrawal of the Class GO Garratt locomotives and the arrival of the Class diesel-electrics on the line between Amabele and Umtata in Transkei, some of them performed temporary service on that line. Post-SAR service All ten locomotives survived and most were still in service by 2014. • Numbers and are with Sheltam, renumbered 2012 and 2013, and have been working in Welkom. • No. works at the Pretoria Portland Cement lime plant in Saldanha. • No. works between the New Clydesdale Colliery near Witbank and the Transnet Freight Rail sidings at Bezuidenhoutsrust. • Numbers to are still with TransNamib, the Namibian railway, renumbered 205 to 208 and with a couple believed to still be in regular use. • Numbers and were sold to Sudan Railways. ==Liveries==

The class 32-000 were delivered in the new Gulf Red livery with yellow side-stripes on the long hood and a yellow V on each end. They wore this livery throughout their SAR service life. ==Works numbers==

The Class 32-200 builder's works numbers and disposition are listed in the table. ==Illustration==

File:SAR Class 32-200 32-205.jpg|TransNamib's no. 205 at Windhoek station, Namibia, 26 June 2010 ==References==