The South African Railways Class 6E1, Series 9 of 1981 was an electric locomotive.
In 1981 and 1982, the South African Railways placed eighty-five 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 9 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).
In 1981 and 1982, 85 Series 9 locomotives were delivered, numbered in the range from E2001 to E2085. Like Series 6 to 8, the Series 9 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, but 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 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. The locomotive had one square and two rectangular access panels along the lower half of the body and a large hatch door below the second small window to the right of the side door on the roof access ladder side, and only one square access panel and a large hatch door below the first window immediately to the right of the door on the opposite side.
Series identifying features The Class 6E1 was produced in eleven series over a period of nearly sixteen years. While some of the Class 6E1 series are visually indistinguishable from their predecessors or successors, some externally visible changes did occur over the years.
Series 8 and later locomotives could be distinguished from all older models by the large hatch door on each side. The Series 9 to Series 11 locomotives were visually indistinguishable from each other, but could be distinguished from all earlier models by the rainwater drainage holes on their lower sides. These holes were usually covered by so-called buckets, but the covers were absent on some locomotives. Another distinction was the end doors, which were recessed into the doorframes on Series 9 to Series 11 locomotives, compared to earlier models which had their end doors flush with the doorframes. In addition, on Series 9 and later models, the two side windows on the driver's assistant side were replaced by a single rectangular side window with rounded corners. Finally, unlike all earlier models, all four doors on Series 9 to Series 11 locomotives had rounded corners.18-050 (ex Series 9 E2013) with recessed end door and rounded door corners
Crew access The Classes 5E, 5E1, 6E and earlier 6E1 series locomotives were notoriously difficult to enter from ground level since their lever-style door handles were at waist level when standing inside the cab. This made 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 locomotives.E1882 with high mounted door handle
Side doors with two interconnected latch handles on the outside, such as those which were introduced on the Class 7E1 with one outside handle mounted near floor level and the other at mid-door level, were also introduced on Class 6E1 locomotives beginning with Series 9.18-253 (ex Series 9 E2058) with two door handles
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.Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide, 2002 Edition, (Compiled by John N. Middleton), p. 57, as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009
Reclassification and rebuilding
Reclassification to Class 16E During 1990 and 1991, Spoornet semi-permanently coupled several pairs of otherwise largely unmodified Class 6E1 locomotives, 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.
The first two Series 9 locomotives, numbers E2001 and E2002, were built as experimental logic control locomotives. They were the only two Series 9 units to have been reclassified and renumbered to Class 16E, becoming no. 16-500A and B.
Modification to Class 17E During 1993 and 1994, Class 17E locomotives were modified and reclassified from Class 6E1 Series 7, 8 or 9 locomotives. 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, and 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.
Seventy known Series 9 locomotives were reclassified to Class 17E. Their unit numbers are displayed in the table below.
Rebuilding to Class 18E
Beginning 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.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
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 earlier Class 6E1, Series 2 to 7 locomotives had been built with a brake system which consisted of various valves connected to each other with pipes, commonly referred to as a "bicycle frame" brake system, the Class 6E1, Series 8 to 11 locomotives were built with an 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 Class 6E1, Series 9 locomotives which were used in this project were all rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Their numbers and renumbering details are shown in the table. +Class 6E1, Series 9 units rebuilt to Class 18Eas on 31 January 2014Count6E1no.Yearbuilt18Eno.18EseriesYearrebuiltNotes1 E20011981 18-0291 2002 ex 16-500A2 E20021981 18-0301 2002 ex 16-500B3 E20031981-8218-2851 2006 ex 17E4 E20041981-8218-0091 2001 5 E20051981-8218-3081 2007 ex 17E6 E20061981-8218-3251 2007 ex 17E7 E20071981-8218-2361 2005 ex 17E8 E20081981-8218-2751 2006 ex 17E9 E20091981-8218-0421 2002 10 E20101981-8218-0221 2002 11 E20111981-8218-2551 2006 ex 17E12 E20121981-8218-2731 2006 ex 17E13 E20131981-8218-0501 2002 14 E20141981-8218-0581 2002 15 E20151981-8218-2611 2006 ex 17E16 E20161981-8218-2321 2005 ex 17E17 E20171981-8218-2991 2006 ex 17E18 E20181981-8218-2491 2006 ex 17E19 E20191981-8218-2521 2006 ex 17E20 E20201981-8218-1941 2005 ex 17E21 E20211981-8218-0451 2002 22 E20221981-8218-2111 2005 ex 17E23 E20231981-8218-2671 2006 ex 17E24 E20241981-8218-2591 2006 ex 17E25 E20251981-8218-1931 2005 ex 17E26 E20261981-8218-1961 2005 ex 17E27 E20271981-8218-3191 2007 ex 17E28 E20281981-8218-2101 2005 ex 17E29 E20291981-8218-3271 2007 ex 17E30 E20301981-8218-2231 2005 ex 17E31 E20311981-8218-3041 2006 ex 17E32 E20321981-8218-3011 2006 ex 17E33 E20331981-8218-2461 2006 ex 17E34 E20341981-8218-2541 2006 ex 17E35 E20361981-8218-2471 2006 ex 17E36 E20371981-8218-0371 2002 ex 17E37 E20381981-8218-0741 2003 ex 17E38 E20391981-8218-2301 2005 ex 17E39 E20401981-8218-2411 2006 ex 17E40 E20411981-8218-2761 2006 ex 17E41 E20421981-8218-2271 2005 ex 17E42 E20431981-8218-2341 2005 ex 17E43 E20441982 18-2191 2005 ex 17E44 E20451982 18-2381 2005 ex 17E45 E20461982 18-2711 2006 ex 17E46 E20471982 18-2681 2006 ex 17E47 E20481982 18-2581 2006 ex 17E48 E20501982 18-2391 2006 ex 17E49 E20511982 18-2291 2005 ex 17E50 E20521982 18-2181 2005 ex 17E51 E20531982 18-0931 2003 ex 17E52 E20541982 18-2571 2006 ex 17E53 E20551982 18-0281 2002 ex 17E54 E20561982 18-0791 2003 ex 17E55 E20571982 18-2401 2005 ex 17E56 E20581982 18-2531 2006 ex 17E57 E20591982 18-3211 2007 ex 17E58 E20601982 18-2501 2006 ex 17E59 E20611982 18-0561 2002 60 E20621982 18-2821 2006 ex 17E61 E20631982 18-2421 2006 ex 17E62 E20641982 18-2811 2006 ex 17E63 E20651982 18-1921 2005 ex 17E64 E20661982 18-2121 2005 ex 17E65 E20671982 18-2451 2006 ex 17E66 E20681982 18-3021 2006 ex 17E67 E20691982 18-2911 2006 ex 17E68 E20701982 18-2241 2005 ex 17E69 E20711982 18-3281 2007 ex 17E70 E20721982 18-0201 2002 71 E20731982 18-2431 2006 ex 17E72 E20741982 18-0081 2001 73 E20751982 18-0731 2003 ex 17E74 E20761982 18-2281 2005 ex 17E75 E20771982 18-2441 2006 ex 17E76 E20781982 18-0541 2002 77 E20791982 18-1271 2004 ex 17E78 E20801982 18-1811 2005 79 E20811982 18-2511 2006 ex 17E80 E20821982 18-2351 2005 ex 17E81 E20831982 18-0571 2002 82 E20841982 18-2171 2005 ex 17E83 E20851982 18-2141 2005 ex 17E
Liveries All the Class 6E1, Series 9 locomotives were 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 9 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the cowcatchers.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)
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