South African Class 6E1, Series 3

The South African Railways Class 6E1, Series 3 of 1971 was an electric locomotive.

South African Class 6E1, Series 3
E1306 at Beaconsfield depot in August 2007
Type and origin
Power typeElectric
DesignerUnion Carriage & Wagon
BuilderUnion Carriage & Wagon
ModelUCW 6E1
Build date1971-1973
Total produced150
RebuilderTransnet Rail Engineering
Rebuild date2010-2015
Number rebuilt66 to Class 18E, Series 2
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • AARB-B
 • UICBo'Bo'
 • CommonwealthBo-Bo
Gauge3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge
Wheel diameter1,220 mm (48.03 in)
Wheelbase11,279 mm (37 ft 1⁄16 in)
 • Bogie3,430 mm (11 ft 3 in)
Pivot centres7,849 mm (25 ft 9 in)
Panto shoes6,972 mm (22 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Length:
​
 • Over couplers15,494 mm (50 ft 10 in)
 • Body14,631 mm (48 ft 0 in)
Width2,896 mm (9 ft 6 in)
Height:
​
 • Pantograph4,089 mm (13 ft 5 in)
 • Body height3,937 mm (12 ft 11 in)
Axle load22,226 kg (49,000 lb)
Adhesive weight88,904 kg (196,000 lb)
Loco weight88,904 kg (196,000 lb)
Electric system/s3 kV DC catenary
Current pickup(s)Pantographs
Traction motorsFour AEI-283AZ
 • Rating 1 hour623 kW (835 hp)
 • Continuous563 kW (755 hp)
Gear ratio18:67
Loco brakeAir & Regenerative
Train brakesAir & Vacuum
CouplersAAR knuckle
Performance figures
Maximum speed113 km/h (70 mph)
Power output:
​
 • 1 hour2,492 kW (3,342 hp)
 • Continuous2,252 kW (3,020 hp)
Tractive effort:
​
 • Starting311 kN (70,000 lbf)
 • 1 hour221 kN (50,000 lbf)
 • Continuous193 kN (43,000 lbf) @ 40 km/h (25 mph)
Career
OperatorsSouth African Railways
Spoornet
Transnet Freight Rail
ClassClass 6E1
Number in class150
NumbersE1296-E1445
Delivered1971-1973
First run1971

Between 1971 and 1973, the South African Railways placed 150 Class 6E1, Series 3 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service.[1]

Manufacturer
Builder's plate

The 3 kV DC Class 6E1, Series 3 electric locomotive was designed and built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Union Carriage & Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal, with the electrical equipment being supplied by the General Electric Company (GEC).[2]

One hundred and fifty units were delivered between 1971 and 1973, numbered in the range from E1296 to E1445. Like Series 1 and 2, Series 3 units were equipped with four AEI-283AZ axle-hung traction motors. UCW did not allocate builder’s numbers to the locomotives it built for the SAR and used the SAR unit numbers for their record keeping.[1]

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 bottom edge of the locomotive body on the roof access ladder side. The units 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.[1]

Series identifying features
Narrow stirrup on E1345
Wide stirrup on E1346

The Class 6E1 was produced in eleven series over a period of nearly sixteen years, with altogether 960 units placed in service, all built by UCW. While some Class 6E1 series were visually indistinguishable from their predecessors or successors, some externally visible changes did occur over the years.[1][3]

The fifty Series 2 and the first fifty Series 3 units are visually indistinguishable from each other. On the Series 3 units in the number range from E1346 to E1445, an externally visible difference is a wider stirrup below their side doors.[1][4][5]

This appears to indicate that Series 2 should actually have consisted of one hundred units and not fifty, firstly since unit numbers E1246 to E1345 are identical in exterior appearance and secondly since Series 4, 5 and 6 were all delivered in batches of one hundred. In addition, Series 2 and 3 used the same AEI-283AZ traction motors.[1][4][5]

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.[6]

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.[6]

One such pair was made up of two Series 3 units, numbers E1418 and E1419, which became Class 16E no. 16-227A and B respectively.[6]

Rebuilding to Class 18E
Cab 1 of Class 18E no. 18-689, ex Class 6E1 no. E1390, Bellville Depot, 31 January 2013

Beginning in 2000, Spoornet began a project to rebuild Series 2 to 11 Class 6E1 units 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 loco's bi-directional ability.[6][7]

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.[7]

The known Class 6E1, Series 3 units which were used in this project, were all rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 2 locomotives. Their numbers and renumbering details are listed in the table.[7]

Liveries

With five exceptions, 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 3 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 solid numbers and at least one in the Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers.[8]

The five exceptions, numbers E1341 to E1345, were delivered in blue with yellow whiskers for use on the Blue Train between the Rand and Kimberley. In about 1985, these five were replaced by the five ex MetroBlitz Class 12E locomotives which were then all repainted in blue and whiskers. The five blue Series 3 locomotives were all eventually repainted in Spoornet’s orange livery.[6]

In 2009 no. E1328 was withdrawn from road service and repainted in a white and dull green livery for use as apprentice trade test locomotive at Sentrarand.

Illustration
  • No. E1329 in Spoornet lined orange livery at Ladysmith, 5 August 2007
  • No. E1377 in Spoornet orange livery at Kaalfontein, 23 September 2009
  • No. E1365 in Spoornet blue with solid numbers, Sentrarand, 22 September 2009
  • No. E1399 in Spoornet blue with outline numbers at Koedoespoort, 9 October 2009
  • No. E1328 being repainted in a shop livery at Sentrarand, 22 September 2009
  • No. E1328 as trade test locomotive at Sentrarand, 18 May 2013
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References
  1. 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
  2. "UCW - Electric locomotives" (PDF). The UCW Partnership. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  3. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0869772112.
  4. No. E1345 with narrow stirrup
  5. No. E1346 with wide stirrup
  6. Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. p. 57.
  7. 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
  8. 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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