South African Class 61-000
South African Classes 1-DH & 61-000 Rhodesia Railways Class DH1 | |
---|---|
Rhodesia Railways |
The South African Railways Class 61-000 of 1959 was a
Between May and July 1959, the
Manufacturer
The Class 61-000 type DH-1420 diesel-hydraulic locomotive was designed and built for the
The Class 1-DH was acquired a year after the SAR had acquired its first
Diesel-hydraulic transmission
The more commonly used
Diesel-hydraulic locomotives, on the other hand, use hydrokinetic transmission, also known as hydrodynamic transmission, in the form of torque converters to transmit power from prime mover to wheels.
Characteristics
The Class 61-000 was a centre-cab locomotive which was powered by two General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) type 6/567C V6 prime movers, each with a Voith type L306r triple-torque converter transmission and each driving the wheels of one bogie. Power was transferred to the axles through drive shafts. Unlike diesel-electric locomotives where each axle is driven by its own traction motor, individual wheel-slip was not possible on the Class 61-000 since each bogie's two axles were interconnected through the drive shafts.[2]
The cab had two control stands and since it was possible to start the six prime movers of three multiple-unit consisted locomotives from one engine cab, each control stand had six engine start buttons and six engine stop buttons. The electrical system was very complicated and unreliable, which eventually led to the locomotives being completely rewired in 1963.[1]
The diesel-hydraulics were acquired to enable a direct comparison with the Class 31-000 General Electric-built diesel-electrics, but these Henschel machines did not perform as well. Even though they had a higher nominal starting tractive effort of 197.2 kilonewtons (44,300 pounds-force) than the 181 kilonewtons (41,000 pounds-force) of the diesel-electrics, they were plagued with overheating and other problems. This was disappointing given the acknowledged success of diesel-hydraulic traction in Germany. Although it has been surmised that the much higher ambient temperatures in South Africa might have been a factor, an improved cooling system could probably have solved that if it had been the main problem.[5][6]
Service
South African Railways
From its establishment in late 1958, the new diesel depot in Germiston provided most of the power on goods trains and some passenger trains going south from the Reef to Volksrust and Kroonstad. Upon delivery, the Class 61-000 joined the Class 31-000 there. They were initially tried on passenger trains, but after a failure at Standerton due to overheating while working the Trans-Natal Express, they were taken off further passenger work and used on goods trains only. They were not successful in mainline goods working either and in the early 1960s the new diesel-hydraulics were mostly confined to shunting work in yards around Braamfontein.[5][6][7][8]
The Class 61-000s spent their entire SAR working lives stationed at the Germiston diesel depot. One of them, no. 61-006} was involved in a head-on collision at Kaserne on 8 October 1966 and was eventually scrapped at the Koedoespoort workshops in Pretoria in September 1968. Problems with cracked axles eventually resulted in the rest of the fleet being staged for repairs in 1967.[1][9]
Rhodesia Railways
In 1971, the remaining six locomotives were sold to Rhodesia Railways (RR), later renamed the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), where they became the RR Class DH1 and were renumbered in the range from 3101 to 3106.[1][2]
ZISCO
They were eventually resold to the
Liveries
Like the Class 31-000 diesel-electrics, the locomotives were delivered in a livery that displayed the colours of the South African flag, white on the upper half and blue on the lower half, separated by an orange stripe on the sides and orange whiskers on the ends. They had black running boards, red buffer beams and black cowcatchers. From 1960 this livery gradually began to be replaced by Gulf Red with yellow side-stripes on the hoods and a yellow V on each end.[5][6][10]
Works numbers
The Class 61-000 builder's works numbers, renumbering upon reclassification and sale are listed in the table.[3][5][9]
SAR 1-DH no. |
SAR 61-000 no. |
Henschel works no. |
RR & NRZ no. |
---|---|---|---|
D745 | 61-001 | 29745 | 3101 |
D746 | 61-002 | 29746 | 3102 |
D747 | 61-003 | 29747 | 3103 |
D748 | 61-004 | 29748 | 3104 |
D749 | 61-005 | 29749 | 3105 |
D750 | 61-006 | 29750 | |
D751 | 61-007 | 29751 | 3106 |
Illustration
-
No. D750, later no. 61-006, under construction at Henschel's plant at Kassel, Germany, 1958
References
- ^ ISBN 0869772112.
- ^ a b c RR Class DH1 dimensional drawing
- ^ a b Henschel-Lieferliste (Henschel & Son works list), compiled by Dietmar Stresow
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 6. Germiston, the Steam and Diesel Running Sheds by Les Pivnic. Captions 6, 33, 37. (Accessed on 7 April 2017)
- ^ a b c Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 13. Eastwards from Germiston, Part 1: Germiston East to Brakpan by Les Pivnic and Peter Micenko. Captions 10, 11. (Accessed on 25 April 2017)
- ^ Soul of A Railway, System 5, Part 2: O.F.S. Main Line, Makouvlei to Bosrand. Caption 3. (Accessed on 3 March 2017)
- ^ Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 8. South eastwards as far as Volksrust by Les Pivnic. Caption 10. (Accessed on 7 April 2017)
- ^ a b c Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. p. 78.
- ^ Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 17: Northwards to just short of the home signal at Pretoria by Les Pivnic. Caption 24. (Accessed on 27 April 2017)
External links
Media related to South African Class 61-000 at Wikimedia Commons