Uganda Railways set to receive new locomotives to expand fleet

[John Ashworth]

Uganda Railways set to receive new locomotives as it moves to expand fleet

A very poorly written article, but it does draw attention to the expansion of the Uganda Railways loco fleet. A reference to four "3000 drive motor vehicles" presumably means 3,000 hp diesel locomotives. It includes a good photo showing the locos in a smart UR colour scheme.

[John Ashworth]

Grindrod preparing locomotives for Africa’s harsh conditions

The refurbishment of the four locomotives sold to Uganda Rail is well underway. Two locomotives are ready for seafreight to Uganda and the last two will be completed in the next two weeks. The locomotives will be road hauled to Richards Bay, loaded onto a vessel, and shipped to Uganda in June. We look forward to sharing the logistics of this operation in due course.

The refurbished and modernised locomotives have been converted from Cape Gauge to Meter Gauge to fit the Ugandan rail network. Additional buffers and couplers were fitted to accommodate the two types of couplers used between the locomotives and wagons. Further customisation included tyres on the wheels and bigger sandboxes...

[John Ashworth]

[John Ashworth]

[John Ashworth]

The new locos arrive in Mombasa - see photos at https://chimpreports.com/photos-4-new-u ... t-mombasa/

[John Ashworth]

In a nail-biting logistics operation, locomotives safely delivered to Richards Bay

No one ever imagined the stress and chaos which ensued.

Heavy lift equipment was required to load the locomotives onto specialised trailers for road transport to Richards Bay. What was expected to be an 8-day transit took 14-days to delivery with significant stress along the way.

Imagine desperate calls from the drivers on a Saturday evening following a direct threat to burn the locomotives which were en-route. Parked alongside the N2, the drivers and trucks were in dire danger. The Grindrod team roused the off-duty RTI to close the N2 so that the huge vehicles with limited manoeuvrability could be turned around and in a nerve-wracking procession escorted through the tight traffic circles in Hluhluwe town to a hiding place big enough to conceal four 20m long, 5m high, 106 tonne locomotives. They remained hidden for 5-days while chaos reigned with looting and burning until the road to Richards Bay opened again.

Every night for the next week everyone held their breath hoping that malicious protestors would not find the locomotives. They were finally escorted the last 100km to Richards Bay where they were staged in a yard within the port while awaiting the loading operation. The project vessel was delayed due to several unforeseen circumstances including, port closure, launch breakdown, delays with Covid-19 tests for the crew, and so on...

“Phew, this was certainly pushing beyond impossible to deliver! Well done to everyone involved,” said Andrew Thomas, CEO Grindrod Rail.