Abstract
FROM the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company's Gazette of March 1937, we learn that during the year 1935 it had received orders for twenty-five new 1,200 h.p. electric locomotives for the railways of Natal from the South African Government. The new locomotives had become necessary because of the increased traffic and the doubling of the route mileage. The company had already supplied ninety-five locomotives which had been in constant service in Natal for terms varying from nine to twelve and a half years. The line from Glencoe to Pietermaritzburg is very hilly. Glencoe is situated near the centre of the Natal coal-field, and the transport of coal to Durban constitutes a large part of the traffic on the line. Power is supplied from Colenso through a three-phase 88,000 volt transmission system. The new locomotives differ from the original ninety-five in many details, but they are suitable for multiple unit working in combination with any of the ninety-five original locomotives. Each locomotive is of 1,200 h.p. capacity with four axles each driven by a 300 h.p. traction motor. The auxiliary machines in each locomotive consist of an air compressor, an exhauster and two motor generators of 16 kW. and 28 kW. capacity respectively. The compressor supplies compressed air for the operation of the locomotive brakes. The exhauster produces the vacuum for the train brakes. Of the many improvements embodied in the new locomotives the most important are in the control gear and the panta-graphs for collecting the current. The latter work with a line pressure of 16 lb. as against the original 26 lb. and weigh about 400 lb. less. They can now be raised to the collecting wire without mechanical shock, and similarly there is no shock when lowered to the roof.
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Electric Locomotives for the Natal Railways. Nature 139, 709 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139709c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139709c0