The Spoornet Class 16E of 1990 was a South African electric locomotive.
During 1990 and 1991, Spoornet semi-permanently coupled several pairs of otherwise unmodified Series 2 to Series 9 Class 6E1 electric locomotives, reclassified them to Class 16E and allocated a single shared unit number to each pair, with the individual locomotives in the pairs inscribed "A" or "B".
Manufacturer The 3 kV DC Class 6E1 electric locomotive was 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). UCW did not allocate builder's numbers to the locomotives which it built for the SAR, but used the SAR unit numbers for their record keeping.
Characteristics Bogies
The Class 6E1 was built with sophisticated traction linkages on their bogies. Together with the locomotive's electronic wheel-slip detection system, these traction struts, mounted between the linkages on the bogies and the locomotive body and colloquially referred to as grasshopper legs, ensured the maximum transfer of power to the rails without causing wheel-slip by reducing the adhesion of the leading bogie and increasing that of the trailing bogie by as much as 15% upon starting. This feature was controlled by electronic wheel-slip detection devices and an electric weight transfer relay which reduced the anchor current to the leading bogie by as much as 50A in notches 2 to 16.
Brakes The locomotive itself used air brakes, but it was equipped to operate trains with air or vacuum brakes. While hauling a vacuum braked train, the locomotive's air brake system would be disabled and the train would be controlled by using the train brakes alone to slow down and stop. While hauling an air braked train, on the other hand, the locomotive brakes would engage along with the train brakes. While working either type of train downgrade, the locomotive's regenerative braking system would also work in conjunction with the train brakes.Operation - South African Classes 6E, 6E1, 16E, 17E and 18E
When the locomotive was stopped, the air brakes on both bogies were applied together. The handbrake or parking brake, located in cab no. 2, only operated on the unit's last axle, or no. 7 and 8 wheels.
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 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.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
Class 16E pairing Class 16E electric locomotives were two-unit semi-permanently coupled Class 6E1 pairs coupled at their no. 1 ends. The aim was to accomplish savings on cab maintenance by abandoning the no. 1 end cabs in terms of maintenance and using only the no. 2 end cabs. During 1990 and 1991 Spoornet made up several such semi-permanently coupled pairs of otherwise unmodified Series 3 to Series 9 Class 6E1 locomotives, each pair getting reclassified to Class 16E, renumbered to a shared new unit number and with each unit inscribed as either the A or B unit.
This was unlike the procedure which was followed later with Class 17E locomotives which were internally modified and reclassified Class 6E1 Series 7, 8 and 9 locomotives, but which remained in service as individual locomotives and retained their original unit numbers after reclassification.Information 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
The original intent was to convert all the serving Class 6E and all eleven series of Class 6E1 to Class 16E locomotive pairs, with the following planned Class 16E number allocation: Class 6E: 16-001 to 16-010 Class 6E1, series 1: 16-100 to 16-104, 16-109 and 16-110 Class 6E1, series 2: 16-105 to 16-108 Class 6E1, series 3: 16-207 to 16-237 Class 6E1, series 4: 16-300 to 16-317 Class 6E1, series 5: 16-318 to 16-335 Class 6E1, series 6: 16-418 to 16-430 Class 6E1, series 7: 16-400 to 16-417 and 16-431 to 16-437 Class 6E1, series 8: 16-501 to 16-518 Class 6E1, series 9: 16-500 and 16-521 to 16-536 Class 6E1, series 10: 16-600 to 16-611 Class 6E1, series 11: 16-700 to 16-711
The idea was not well thought through, however, and the law of unintended consequences soon manifested itself. In practice it was found that some locomotive pairs worked together better than others so that some pairings were successful while others gave problems. Maintenance issues presented further drawbacks since when only one unit in a Class 16E pair needed repairs, it meant that the partner was out of commission as well because their no. 1 end cabs were not kept serviceable. All these and other complications led to the programme being abandoned very quickly, long before all the Class 6E and 6E1 could be paired off.
A few of the successful and problem-free Class 16E pairings did continue to run that way for more than fifteen years with numbers and B and 16-411A and B being the last to be separated. The rest were either separated during rebuilding to Class 18E or gradually converted back to dual cab Class 6E1s as soon as one or both in the pair required major maintenance, all of the latter reverting to their original Class 6E1 unit numbers. Their former Class 16E numbers were still visible on many of these locomotives years later.
None of the Class 6E or the Class 6E1, Series 1, 10 or 11 locomotives were ever paired into Class 16Es. Those which are known to have received this treatment are shown in Table 1. +Table 1: Known Class 16E locomotive pairs16E no.AUnitBUnit6E1SeriesA Unitto 18E no.B Unitto 18E no.16-100E1272E1273216-227E1418E14193 18-79016-305E14574 16-319E15495 16-335E16075 16-404E1846E18477 18-35918-36016-405E1848E18497 18-26418-26516-406E18707 16-407E17907 18-18416-409E1840E18417 18-33818-33916-410E1850E18517 18-39218-39316-411E1858E18597 16-420E16536 18-79916-422E1669E17096 18-10018-50316-425E1699E17006 18-16718-16916-427E1684E17016 18-34518-34616-428E1718E17206 18-34718-34816-429E1679E17146 18-34918-35016-500E2001E20029 18-02918-03016-501E1916E19178 18-03518-03616-503E1914E19158 18-07718-07816-504E1925E19268 18-03318-03416-505E1918E19198 18-06318-06716-506E1928E19298 18-05518-049
Rebuilding to Class 18E
Beginning in 2000, Spoornet embarked on a project to rebuild Series 2 to 11 Class 6E1 locomotives as well as Class 16E pairs which were originally from those series to Class 18E, Series 1 and Series 2 at the Transnet Rail Engineering 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.
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 was 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.
While the older Class 6E1, Series 2 to 7 locomotives had been built with a brake system consisting of various valves connected to each other with pipes and commonly referred to as a "bicycle frame" brake system, the Class 6E1, Series 8 to 11 locomotives were built with a compressed air equipment frame brake system, commonly referred to as a brake rack. Since the design of the rebuilt Class 18E locomotives included the same brake rack, the rebuilding project was begun with the newer series 8 to 11 locomotives to reduce the overall cost of rebuilding.
The known Class 16E locomotives which were used in this project were all rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Their numbers and renumbering details are shown in Table 2. +Table 2: Class 16E units rebuilt to Class 18ECount6E1no.6E1seriesYearbuilt18Eno.YearrebuiltNotes1 E16696 1976 18-1002003 ex 16-422A2 E16796 1976 18-3492007 ex 16-429A3 E16846 1976 18-3452007 ex 16-427A4 E16996 1976-7718-1672004 ex 16-425A5 E17006 1976-7718-1692004 ex 16-425B6 E17016 1976-7718-3462007 ex 16-427B7 E17096 1976-7718-5032009 ex 16-422B8 E17146 1976-7718-3502007 ex 16-429B9 E17186 1977 18-3472007 ex 16-428A10 E17206 1977 18-3482007 ex 16-428B11 E17907 1977-7818-1842005 ex 16-407B12 E18407 1978 18-3382007 ex 16-409A13 E18417 1978 18-3392007 ex 16-409B14 E18467 1978 18-3592007 ex 16-404A15 E18477 1978 18-3602007 ex 16-404B16 E18487 1978 18-2642006 ex 16-405A17 E18497 1978 18-2652006 ex 16-405B18 E18507 1978 18-3922008 ex 16-410A19 E18517 1978 18-3932008 ex 16-410B20 E19148 1979 18-0772003 ex 16-503A21 E19158 1979 18-0782003 ex 16-503B22 E19168 1979-8018-0352002 ex 16-501A23 E19178 1979-8018-0362002 ex 16-501B24 E19188 1979-8018-0632002 ex 16-505A25 E19198 1979-8018-0672003 ex 16-505B26 E19258 1979-8018-0332002 ex 16-504A27 E19268 1979-8018-0342002 ex 16-504B28 E19288 1979-8018-0552002 ex 16-506A29 E19298 1979-8018-0492002 ex 16-506B30 E20019 1981 18-0292002 ex 16-500A31 E20029 1981 18-0302002 ex 16-500B
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