The South African Railways Class 5E, Series 3 of 1958 was an electric locomotive.
In 1958 and 1959, the South African Railways placed fifty-five Class 5E, Series 3 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service.South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
Manufacturer Like the Series 2, all the Class 5E, Series 3 locomotives were built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Vulcan Foundry (VF), subcontracted by English Electric (EE) who had designed the locomotive and supplied the electric components. They were built in 1958 and entered service in 1958 and 1959, numbered in the range from E536 to E590.
The number range of the Series 3 locomotives did not follow directly on that of the Series 2, since the Class 5E1, Series 1 and the Class ES locomotives were allocated most of the numbers in between. Twelve numbers, E499, E513, E514 and those in the range from E527 to E535 were never allocated.
Orientation These dual cab locomotives had a roof access ladder on one side only, just to the right of the cab access door. The roof access ladder end was marked as the no. 2 end. A corridor along the centre of the locomotive connected the cabs, which were identical except that Cab 2 was where the handbrake was located.
Service Crews found the Class 5E to give a rough ride, which soon earned it the nickname . The successor Class 5E1 with its new design bogies gave a smoother ride.
The Class 5E family entered service on the Natal mainline between Durban and Johannesburg and eventually served almost country-wide as electrification was completed on more mainlines. In 1960, sixty units of the Class 5E family were allocated to the Witbank section upon completion of its electrification. In December 1961, twelve of them were replaced by Class 32-000 diesel-electric locomotives and transferred to the newly electrified Touws River-Beaufort West section. More followed to replace the Class 25 condensers that were being transferred from that section to Beaconsfield in Kimberley at the time.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 21: Witbank Line by Les Pivnic, Eugene Armer, Peter Stow and Peter Micenko. Caption 10. (Accessed on 4 May 2017)
After withdrawal from service, only one Series 3 locomotive, no. E576, was sold into industrial service. It went to the Driefontein gold mine near Carletonville where, for an unknown reason, it was given the number plates from Series 2 no. E343 which had also been acquired by Driefontein.
Numbers E563 and E590 were transferred to MetroRail, later part of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, for use as shunting locomotives at the MetroRail Depot in Salt River, Cape Town. They still survive, staged out of service at Salt River.
Liveries The locomotives were delivered in a bottle green and yellow whiskers livery with red cowcatchers. Beginning c. 1960, a Gulf Red and yellow whiskers livery gradually replaced the green and yellow.
With both liveries, the locomotives all had red cowcatchers except in the Cape Western region, where units based at the Bellville Depot could often be identified by their yellow cowcatchers.
Some selected electric and diesel-electric locomotives were painted blue for use with the Blue Train, but without altering the layout of the paint scheme. During the late 1970s numbers E562 to E569 were painted blue with yellow whiskers for use on the Blue Train between Cape Town and Beaufort West in the Cape Western region. In the early 1990s no. E564 was renumbered E263 to represent a Series 1 locomotive and repainted in SAR green and yellow whiskers for use on tourist excursion trains.
MetroRail's shunting locomotive no. E590 was later painted in MetroRail's grey and yellow suburban livery.
Preservation One of the 5E Series 3's is currently preserved in the meantime. Class 5E E564 incorrectly numbered as Series 1 E263 in preservation this unit is preserved at Bellville Loco Depot.Sandstone Heritage Trust - 2017016 Locomotive status - January 2017. (Accessed on 8 March 2019)
Works numbers The EE and VF works numbers of the Class 5E, Series 3 and their known disposal are shown in the table. +Class 5E, Series 3Loco no.EE worksno.VF worksno.SoldtoE536 2544 E209 E537 2545 E210 E538 2546 E211 E539 2547 E212 E540 2548 E213 E541 2549 E214 E542 2550 E215 E543 2551 E216 E544 2552 E217 E545 2553 E218 E546 2554 E219 E547 2555 E220 E548 2556 E221 E549 2557 E222 E550 2558 E223 E551 2559 E224 E552 2560 E225 E553 2561 E226 E554 2562 E227 E555 2563 E228 E556 2564 E229 E557 2565 E230 E558 2566 E231 E559 2567 E232 E560 2568 E233 E561 2569 E234 E562 2570 E235 E563 2571 E236 MetroE564 2572 E237 Preserved (incorrectly numbered E263) E565 2573 E238 E566 2574 E239 E567 2575 E240 E568 2576 E241 E569 2577 E242 E570 2578 E243 E571 2579 E244 E572 2580 E245 E573 2581 E246 E574 2582 E247 E575 2583 E248 E576 2584 E249 DriesE577 2585 E250 E578 2586 E251 E579 2587 E252 E580 2588 E253 E581 2589 E254 E582 2590 E255 E583 2591 E256 E584 2592 E257 E585 2593 E258 E586 2594 E259 E587 2595 E260 E588 2596 E261 E589 2597 E262 E590 2598 E263 Metro
Illustration The main picture shows no. E590 in MetroRail livery, while the rest of the pictures serve to illustrate some of the other liveries in which Series 3 locomotives served.
References