#2009
South African gas-electric locomotive
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by South African Railways· from 1923· experimental gas-electric locomotive
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Gas-electric locomotive: Charles Leonard· Public domain
what is it?
The South African Railways gas-electric locomotive of 1923 was an experimental gas-electric locomotive. The fuel, suction gas, was generated on-board the locomotive from coal. In 1923, the South African Railways experimented with gas-electric motive power and constructed a single experimental producer gas-electric locomotive.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 103 years ago, in 1923.
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1923
- in service from
- 1923
- number built
- 1
- kind
- Gas-electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- South African Railways
- designer
- South African Railways, (C. Lawson)
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail
- top speed
- 40 km/h
- power
- 63 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- wheel arrangement
- (1A)(A1)
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q24088571, Wikipedia: South African gas-electric locomotive (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.