South African Class GM 4-8-2+2-8-4 no. 2292 at Millsite and no. 2304 at the Witbank shed. South African Class GM 4-8-2+2-8-4 The South African Railways Class GM 4-8-2+2-8-4 of 1938 was an articulated steam locomotive. During 1938 and 1939, the South African Railways placed sixteen Class GM Garratt articulated steam locomotives with a 4-8-2+2-8-4 Double Mountain type wheel arrangement in goods train service on the Mafeking line out of Johannesburg. By 1938 the rapidly increasing traffic on the line from Johannesburg via Krugersdorp and Zeerust to Mafeking necessitated some means to increase its capacity quickly. Electrification to at least as far as Koster was proposed,
2-8-8-8-8-8-2 2-8-8-8-8-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-8-8-8-8-8-2 has two leading wheels, five sets of eight driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. Because of its length, such a locomotive must be an articulated locomotive. It is not longer than a normal articulated; the fourth and fifth sets of drivers are located under the tender. Other equivalent classifications are: UIC classification: 1-D-D-D-D-D-1 (also known as German classification and Italian classification) AAR classification: 1-D-D-D-D-D-1 French classification: 140+040+040+040+041 Turkish classification: 45+44+44+44+45 Swiss classification: 4/5+4/4+4/4+4/4+4/5 The equivalent UIC classification is to be refined to (1'D)DDD(D1'). The Baldwin Locomotive Works