Between March 1972 and May 1973, the South African Railways placed seventy Class 35-000 General Electric type U15C diesel-electric locomotives in branch line service.

An externally visible modification which was done during major overhauls is the addition of a saddle hood astride the long hump of the Class 35-000.

The GE Class 35-000 was designed to operate on light rail and they work on most branch lines in the central, western, southern and southeastern parts of the country.

A threesome is allocated to the Swartkops depot in Port Elizabeth from where they work the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) MetroRail commuter trains to Uitenhage.

It had three connected railway operations in Zimbabwe and Zambia that formed a rail link between South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These units were sometimes marked or branded as either BBR or LOG or both but their status, whether leased or loaned, was unclear since they were still on the TFR roster and still often worked in South Africa as well.

The units did not appear to be restricted to working in any one of the three operations sections and have been observed being transferred between Zimbabwe and Zambia across the bridge at Victoria Falls as required.

[8] The Class 35-000 builder's works numbers and where applicable, leased service in Zambia or more recently with NLPI are listed in the table.

In the 1990s many of the Class 35-000 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the buffer beams.