The South African Railways Class 34-400 of 1973 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Between April 1973 and November 1974, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 34-400 General Electric type U26C diesel-electric locomotives in service. Manufacturer The Class 34-400 type GE U26C diesel-electric locomotive was designed by General Electric (GE) and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by the South African General Electric-Dorman Long Locomotive Group (, later Dorbyl). One hundred locomotives were delivered between April 1973 and November 1974, numbered in the range from to . Distinguishing features As built, the GE Classes , and locomotives were visually indistinguishable from each other. The Class locomotives could be distinguished from the other series by the air conditioning units mounted on their cab roofs and initially, when it was still a feature unique to them, by their running board mounted handrails. At some stage during the mid-1980s, all Class , and locomotives had saddle filters installed across the long hood, mounted just to the rear of the screens behind the cab on the sides. Since then, Class locomotives could be distinguished from the older models by the absence of the saddle filter. Modifications Fuel capacity As built, the Class had a fuel tank and interlinked bogies, while the Class was delivered new to Iscor with a fuel tank to cope with the lack of en route refuelling points on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line. To facilitate the larger fuel tank, the inter-bogie linkage found on all other models had to be omitted on the Class 34-500. To be usable on the iron ore line, Class units which ended up working there were modified to a similar fuel capacity. The inter-bogie linkage was removed and the fuel tank was enlarged by changing it from saddle-shaped to rectangular box-shaped. To maintain its lateral balance, a slab of metal was attached to each bogie in place of the removed linkage. In the second picture, the weld lines on the end of the enlarged fuel tank as well as the metal slab at the end of the bogie are visible. Electronic control system Beginning in 2010, some units were equipped with electronic fuel injection and GE "Brite Star" control systems. On some of the first locomotives to be so modified, externally visible evidence of the modification is a raised middle portion of the long hood. Service South African Railways GE Class work on most