The South African Railways Class 6E1, Series 7 of 1977 was an electric locomotive.
Between 1977 and 1979, the South African Railways placed 150 Class 6E1, 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
The 3 kV DC Class 6E1, Series 7 electric locomotive was designed and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal. The electrical equipment was supplied by the General Electric Company (GEC).
The 150 units were delivered between 1977 and 1979, numbered in the range from E1746 to E1895. Like Series 6, the Series 7 units were equipped with AEI-283AY traction motors. UCW did not allocate builder's or works numbers to the locomotives it built for the SAR and used the SAR unit numbers for their record keeping.
Characteristics 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 unit connected the cabs which were identical apart from the fact that the handbrake was located in cab 2. A pantograph hook stick was stowed in a tube mounted below the lower edge of the locomotive body on the roof access ladder side. The locomotive had one square and two rectangular access panels along the lower half of the body on the roof access ladder side, and only one square access panel on the opposite side.
Series identifying features
The Class 6E1 was produced in eleven series over a period of nearly sixteen years. While some Class 6E1 series are visually indistinguishable from their predecessors or successors, some externally visible changes did occur over the years.
The Series 6 and Series 7 locomotives are visually indistinguishable from each other, but can be distinguished from all the older series models by the rainwater beading that had been added above the small grilles on the sides aft of the side doors. Beginning with Series 8, all subsequent series had a large hatch door on each side to the right of their side doors.
Crew access The Class 5E, 5E1, 6E and 6E1 locomotives were notoriously difficult to enter from ground level since their lever-style door handles were at waist level when standing inside the cab, making it impossible to open the door from outside without first climbing up high enough to reach the door handle while hanging on to the side handrails with one hand only. Crews therefore often chose to leave the doors ajar when parking and exiting the units.
Late-model Series 7 locomotives were equipped with side doors on which the outside door latch handle was mounted near floor level with a simple drawer pull type handle at mid-door level. Unit no. E1845 and later numbers were observed with such lower mounted door handles. Unit no. E1882 was one observed exception with a high-mounted door handle, although this may have been the result of a door replacement.E1882 with high mounted door handleE1845 with low mounted door handle
Service The Class 6E1 family saw service all over both 3 kV DC mainline and branch line networks, the smaller Cape Western mainline between Cape Town and Beaufort West and the larger network which covers portions of the Northern Cape, the Free State, Natal, Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga.
Reclassification and rebuilding Reclassification to Class 16E
During 1990 and 1991, Spoornet semi-permanently coupled several pairs of otherwise largely unmodified Class 6E1 units, reclassified them to Class 16E and allocated a single locomotive number to each pair, with the individual units in the pairs inscribed "A" or "B". The aim was to accomplish savings on cab maintenance by coupling the units at their no. 1 ends, abandoning the no. 1 end cabs in terms of maintenance and using only the no. 2 end cabs. Most pairs were later either disbanded with the units reverting to Class 6E1 and regaining their original numbers or getting rebuilt to Class 18E.
Twelve known Series 7 locomotives were part of such Class 16E pairs. E1790 became 16-407B. E1840 and E1841 became 16-409 A and B. E1846 and E1847 became 16-404 A and B. E1848 and E1849 became 16-405 A and B. E1850 and E1851 became 16-410 A and B. E1858 and E1859 became 16-411 A and B. E1870 became 16-406B.
Modification to Class 17E
Class 17E locomotives were modified and reclassified from Class 6E1, Series 7, 8 and 9 locomotives during 1993 and 1994. Key modifications included improved regenerative braking and wheel-slip control to improve their reliability on the steep gradients and curves of the Natal mainline. Unlike the unmodified but reclassified Class 16E locomotives, the Class 17Es retained their original unit numbers after reclassification.
A stumbling block was that the regeneration equipment at many of the sub-stations along the route was unreliable. Since there was no guarantee that another train would be in the same section to absorb the regenerated energy, there was always the risk that line voltage could exceed 4.1 kV which would make either the sub-station or the locomotive trip out. As a result, the subsequently rebuilt Class 18E locomotives were not equipped with regenerative braking.
Fourteen Series 7 units are known to have been modified and reclassified to Class 17E, their numbers being E1749, E1775, E1776, E1777, E1778, E1801, E1803, E1805, E1810, E1822, E1826, E1827, E1832 and E1843. Twelve of them were subsequently rebuilt to Class 18E, the exceptions being numbers E1778 and E1803.
Rebuilding to Class 18E
In 2000, Spoornet began a project to rebuild Series 2 to 11 Class 6E1 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 and Series 2 at the Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE) workshops at Koedoespoort. In the process, the cab at the no. 1 end was stripped of all controls and the driver's front and side windows were blanked off to have a toilet installed, thereby forfeiting the locomotive's bi-directional ability.Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide, 2002 Edition, (Compiled by John N. Middleton), p. 57, as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009Information gathered from the rebuild files of individual locomotives at Transnet Rail Engineering’s Koedoespoort shops, or obtained from John Middleton as well as several Transnet employees
Since the driving cab's noise level had to be below 85 decibels, cab 2 was selected as the Class 18E driving cab primarily based on its lower noise level compared to cab 1, which is closer and more exposed to the compressor's noise and vibration. Another factor was the closer proximity of cab 2 to the low voltage switch panel. The fact that the handbrake was located in cab 2 was not a deciding factor, but was considered an additional benefit.
Most of the Class 6E1, Series 7 units which were used in this project were rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. The known numbers and renumbering details are listed in the table. +Class 6E1, Series 7 units rebuilt to Class 18Eas on 31 January 2014Count6E1no.Yearbuilt18Eno.18EseriesYearrebuiltNotes1 E17461977 18-1591 2004 2 E17471977 18-1411 2004 3 E17481977 18-3661 2007 4 E17491977 18-3321 2007 ex 17E5 E17501977 18-2061 2005 6 E17511977 18-3901 2008 7 E17521977 18-2081 2005 8 E17531977 18-3991 2008 9 E17551977 18-4161 2009 TFR, ex PRASA10 E17561977 18-4081 2009 11 E17571977 18-5211 2009 12 E17581977 18-4071 2009 13 E17591977 18-3911 2008 14 E17601977 18-3891 2008 15 E17611977 18-5201 2009 16 E17621977 18-6072 2009 17 E17631977 18-5161 2009 18 E17641977 18-3771 2008 19 E17651977 18-1341 2004 20 E17661977 18-3981 2008 21 E17671977 18-6032 2009 22 E17681977 18-6052 2010 23 E17691977 18-1391 2004 24 E17701977 18-3351 2007 25 E17711977 18-4101 2009 PRASA26 E17721977 18-3821 2008 27 E17731977 18-5221 2009 28 E17741977 18-3851 2008 29 E17751977 18-2921 2006 ex 17E30 E17761977 18-3261 2007 ex 17E31 E17771977 18-2891 2006 ex 17E32 E17791977 18-4181 2009 TFR, ex PRASA33 E17801977 18-1071 2003 34 E17811977 18-5101 2009 35 E17821977 18-1371 2004 36 E17831977 18-7722 2013 37 E17851977 18-1651 2003 38 E17861977 18-4171 2009 39 E17871977 18-3541 2008 40 E17881977-7818-1871 2005 41 E17891977-7818-3611 2007 42 E17901977-7818-1841 2005 ex 16-407B43 E17911977-7818-6012 2009 44 E17921977-7818-3331 2007 45 E17931977-7818-6332 2010 46 E17941977-7818-5141 2009 47 E17951977-7818-3581 2007 48 E17961977-7818-1881 2005 49 E17971977-7818-2311 2005 50 E17981977-7818-5001 2009 51 E17991977-7818-3791 2008 52 E18001977-7818-6992 2012 53 E18011977-7818-3311 2007 ex 17E54 E18021977-7818-5011 2009 55 E18041977-7818-4031 2008 PRASA56 E18051977-7818-2601 2006 ex 17E57 E18061977-7818-6182 2010 58 E18071977-7818-6542 2011 59 E18081977-7818-5021 2009 60 E18091977-7818-6122 2009 61 E18101977-7818-2941 2006 ex 17E62 E18111977-7818-5121 2009 63 E18121977-7818-6492 2011 64 E18141977-7818-3431 2007 65 E18151977-7818-4011 2008 PRASA66 E18171977-7818-3691 2007 67 E18191977-7818-4021 2009 PRASA68 E18201977-7818-6132 2010 69 E18211977-7818-4091 2009 PRASA70 E18221977-7818-0971 2003 ex 17E71 E18231977-7818-6102 2010 72 E18241977-7818-6152 2009 73 E18251977-7818-5241 2009 74 E18261977-7818-3441 2007 ex 17E75 E18271977-7818-2831 2006 ex 17E76 E18281977-7818-4131 2008 PRASA77 E18291977-7818-4061 2008 PRASA78 E18301977-7818-3871 2008 79 E18311978 18-0861 2003 80 E18321978 18-3071 2007 ex 17E81 E18331978 18-3651 2007 82 E18341978 18-4312 2013 PRASA83 E18351978 18-2801 2006 84 E18361978 18-5051 2009 85 E18371978 18-2331 2005 86 E18381978 18-3171 2007 87 E18391978 18-6252 2010 88 E18401978 18-3381 2007 ex 16-409A89 E18411978 18-3391 2007 ex 16-409B90 E18421978 18-1351 2004 91 E18431978 18-2701 2006 ex 17E92 E18441978 18-7252 2013 93 E18451978 18-6262 2010 94 E18461978 18-3591 2007 ex 16-404A95 E18471978 18-3601 2007 ex 16-404B96 E18481978 18-2641 2006 ex 16-405A97 E18491978 18-2651 2006 ex 16-405B98 E18501978 18-3921 2008 ex 16-410A99 E18511978 18-3931 2008 ex 16-410B100 E18531978 18-3681 2007 101 E18541978 18-1331 2004 102 E18551978 18-7792 2013 c. 2013103 E18561978 18-5111 2009 104 E18571978 18-4121 2008 PRASA105 E18601978 18-1381 2004 106 E18611978 18-3421 2007 107 E18621978 18-6922 2012 108 E18631978-7918-3631 2007 109 E18641978-7918-3641 2007 110 E18651978-7918-5231 2009 111 E18661978-7918-6912 2012 112 E18671978-7918-7302 2013 113 E18681978-7918-4141 2008 PRASA114 E18691978-7918-7012 2012 115 E18711978-7918-0901 2003 116 E18721979 18-3961 2008 117 E18731979 18-2131 2005 118 E18741979 18-5091 2009 119 E18751979 18-3561 2007 120 E18761979 18-1831 2005 121 E18771979 18-6062 2009 122 E18781979 18-1981 2005 123 E18791979 18-3741 2007 124 E18801979 18-5131 2009 125 E18811979 18-3181 2007 126 E18821979 18-6092 2009 127 E18831979 18-3141 2007 128 E18841979 18-6162 2010 129 E18851979 18-0801 2003 130 E18861979 18-3621 2007 131 E18871979 18-6242 2010 132 E18881979 18-3701 2007 133 E18891979 18-2661 2006 134 E18901979 18-6312 2010 135 E18911979 18-5151 2009 136 E18921979 18-3711 2007 137 E18931979 18-1611 2005 138 E18941979 18-2051 2005 139 E18951979 18-3531 2007
Liveries The whole series was delivered in the SAR Gulf Red livery with signal red cowcatchers, yellow whiskers and with the number plates on the sides mounted on three-stripe yellow wings. In the 1990s many of the Series 6 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the cowcatchers. Several later received the Spoornet maroon livery. In the late 1990s at least two were repainted in the Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers on the sides. In the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) era after 2008, at least one was repainted in the Shosholoza Meyl purple livery.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 9. South-Eastwards as far as Volksrust (2nd part) by Les Pivnic. Caption 4. (Accessed on 11 April 2017)