page_title: South African Class GCA 2-6-2+2-6-2
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: South African Class GCA 2-6-2+2-6-2 / Service
caption_attribution_description: English: SAR Class GCA 2621 (2-6-2+2-6-2) number plate Location: Nelspruit
context_page_description: The South African Railways Class GCA 2-6-2+2-6-2 of 1927 was an articulated steam locomotive.
  In 1927, the South African Railways placed thirteen Class GCA Garratt articulated steam locomotives with a 2-6-2+2-6-2 Double Prairie type wheel arrangement in branch line service. Another batch of twenty-six locomotives was acquired in 1928.
context_section_description: The first batch of locomotives were placed in service on the Natal South Coast line and shedded at Greyville, while the second batch were distributed wherever their services were required. These could be found working around Pietermaritzburg on the Donnybrook to Underberg and Greytown to Mount Alida branch lines, while some ended up at Nelspruit in the Eastern Transvaal Lowveld for service on the Graskop branch line. They were even tested on the South West Africa System.
  By October 1971, after more than four decades of service, all Greyville's Class GCAs had been withdrawn since they were no longer needed after completion of the South Coast line’s electrification. By 1973, the thirty-nine original members of the Class had dwindled to seven, all stationed at Mason's Mill in Pietermaritzburg, from where they still worked the light rail Underberg branch, often double-heading. By April of that year, however, the number had dropped to five. They were all withdrawn from service in October 1975. One of their last tasks was to work the track re-railing train which laid the heavier rails which enabled diesel-electric locomotives to finally replace them.
caption: Bilingual
exif: {}