South African Class 6E1, Series 3

South African Class 6E1, Series 3
No. E1306 at Beaconsfield Depot, 25 August 2007
Type and origin Power type Electric Designer Union Carriage and Wagon Builder Union Carriage and Wagon Model UCW 6E1 Build date 1971-1973 Total produced 150 Rebuilder Transnet Engineering Rebuild date 2010-2015 Number rebuilt 66 to Class 18E, Series 2
Specifications Configuration: ​  • AAR B-B  • UIC Bo'Bo'  • Commonwealth Bo-Bo Gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge Wheel diameter 1,220 mm (48.0 in) Wheelbase 11,279 mm (37 ft 0.1 in)  • Bogie 3,430 mm (11 ft 3.0 in) Pivot centres 7,849 mm (25 ft 9.0 in) Panto shoes 6,972 mm (22 ft 10.5 in) Length: ​  • Over couplers 15,494 mm (50 ft 10.0 in)  • Body 14,631 mm (48 ft 0 in) Width 2,896 mm (9 ft 6.0 in) Height: ​  • Pantograph 4,089 mm (13 ft 5.0 in)  • Body height 3,937 mm (12 ft 11.0 in) Axle load 22,226 kg (49,000 lb) Adhesive weight 88,904 kg (196,000 lb) Loco weight 88,904 kg (196,000 lb) Power supply Catenary Current source Pantographs Traction motors Four AEI-283AZ  • Rating 1 hour 623 kW (835 hp)  • Continuous 563 kW (755 hp) Gear ratio 18:67 Loco brake Air & Regenerative Train brakes Air & Vacuum Couplers AAR knuckle
Performance figures Maximum speed 113 km/h (70 mph) Power output: ​  • 1 hour 2,492 kW (3,342 hp)  • Continuous 2,252 kW (3,020 hp) Tractive effort: ​  • Starting 311 kN (70,000 lbf)  • 1 hour 221 kN (50,000 lbf)  • Continuous 193 kN (43,000 lbf) @ 40 km/h (25 mph)
Career Operators South African Railways Spoornet Transnet Freight Rail Class Class 6E1 Power class 3 kV DC Number in class 150 Numbers E1296-E1445 Delivered 1971-1973 First run 1971

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.