1926 in South Africa

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← 1925 1924 1923 1926 in South Africa → 1927 1928 1929
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1926 in South Africa.

Incumbents

• Monarch: King George V.
• Governor-General and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: The Earl of Athlone.
• Prime Minister: James Barry Munnik Hertzog.
• Chief Justice: James Rose Innes.

Events

March

• 13 – The first commercial air route from South Africa is established when Alan Cobham does a return flight between London and Cape Town.

October

• 8 – 124 coal miners die due to a methane explosion in the Durban Navigation Colliery disaster
• 10 – The South African National War Memorial next to Delville Wood outside Longueval, France is opened.
• 10 – The Sabie Game Reserve is renamed to Kruger National Park.

Births

• 23 May – Joe Slovo, politician in Obeliai, Lithuania (d. 1995)
• 11 September; Gerrit Viljoen, government minister (d. 2009)
• 24 December – Ronald Draper, cricketer (d. 2025)

Railways

Class 15CA

Class FD

Class 17

Railway lines opened

• 18 January – Transvaal – Villiers, Free State to Grootvlei, 19 miles 39 chains (31.4 kilometres). ^[1]
• 7 June – Free State – Harrismith to Warden, 35 miles 33 chains (57.0 kilometres). ^[1]
• 18 August – Cape – Upington to Kakamas (Narrow gauge), 54 miles 63 chains (88.2 kilometres). ^[1]
• 1 September – Cape – Addo to Sunland, 6 miles 1 chain (9.7 kilometres). ^[1]
• 15 September – Natal – Mtubatuba to Candover, 110 miles 70 chains (178.4 kilometres). ^[1]
• 19 November – Cape – Katberg to Seymour (Narrow gauge), 9 miles 30 chains (15.1 kilometres). ^[1]
• 22 November – Transvaal – Citrus to Plaston, 17 miles 48 chains (28.3 kilometres). ^[1]
• 8 December – Cape – Klawer to Landplaas, 50 miles 37 chains (81.2 kilometres). ^[1]

Locomotives

Three Cape gauge locomotive types enter service on the South African Railways (SAR):

• The first twenty-three Class 15CA 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives. ^{[2] [3]}
• Four Class FD 2-6-2+2-6-2 Modified Fairlie articulated steam locomotives. ^{[2] [3]}
• To address a shortage of suitable shunting locomotives, the first of twenty-one ex Natal Government Railways Class D1 4-8-2 tank locomotives are rebuilt to Class 17 4-8-0 tank-and-tender locomotives. ^{[2] [4]}

References

1. Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway, Statement No. 19, p. 189, ref. no. 200954-13
2. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 26–27, 61–62, 68, 97. ISBN   0869772112.
3. Holland, D. F. (1972). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. Vol. 2: 1910-1955 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, England: David & Charles. pp. 46, 49–51. ISBN   978-0-7153-5427-8.
4. South African Railways and Harbours Locomotive Diagram Book, 2'0" & 3'6" Gauge Steam Locomotives, 15 August 1941, as amended