South African Class 6E1, Series 11

South African Class 6E1, Series 11
E2185 at Witbank, Transvaal, 7 October 1991
Type and origin Power type Electric Designer Union Carriage & Wagon Builder Union Carriage & Wagon Model UCW 6E1 Build date 1984-1985 Total produced 45 Rebuilder Transnet Rail Engineering Rebuild date 2001-2005 Number rebuilt 45 to Class 18E, Series 1
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 (48.03 in) Wheelbase 11,279 mm (37 ft 0 in)  •  Bogie 3,430 mm (11 ft 3 in) Pivot centres 7,849 mm (25 ft 9 in) Panto shoes 6,972 mm (22 ft 10 1⁄2 in) Length: ​  • Over couplers 15,494 mm (50 ft 10 in)  • Body 14,631 mm (48 ft 0 in) Width 2,896 mm (9 ft 6 in) Height: ​  • Pantograph 4,089 mm (13 ft 5 in)  • Body height 3,937 mm (12 ft 11 in) Axle load 22,447 kg (49,487 lb) Adhesive weight 89,788 kg (197,949 lb) Loco weight 89,788 kg (197,949 lb) Electric system/s 3 kV DC catenary Current pickup(s) Pantographs Traction motors Four AEI-283AY  • 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 Class Class 6E1 Number in class 45 Numbers E2141-E2185 Delivered 1984-1985 First run 1984 Last run 2005

The South African Railways Class 6E1, Series 11 of 1984 was an electric locomotive.

In 1984 and 1985, the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 6E1, Series 11 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service. ^[1]

Manufacturer

The 3 kV DC Class 6E1, Series 11 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). ^[2]

Forty-five locomotives were delivered in 1984 and 1985, numbered in the range from E2141 to E2185. These were the last Class 6E1 locomotives to be built. Like Series 6 to 10, the Series 11 units were equipped with AEI-283AY traction motors. UCW did not allocate builder's numbers to the locomotives it built for the SAR, but 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 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 on the roof access ladder side, and only one square access panel and a large hatch door on the opposite side. ^[1]

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. ^[1]

Series 8 and later locomotives could be distinguished from all older models by the large hatch door on each side, below the second small window to the right of the side door on the roof access ladder side and below the first window immediately to the right of the door on the other side. ^{[1] [3]}

Drainage holes on Series 9 to 11

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 several 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 split side window on the driver's assistant side was 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. ^[4]

Crew access

The Class 5E, 5E1, 6E and earlier 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. 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. ^[5]

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. ^[6]

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. ^[7]

Rebuilding to Class 18E

Cab 1 of Class 18E no. 18-106, ex Class 6E1 no. E2174, Sentrarand, 22 September 2009

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. ^{[7] [8]}

Brake rack in Class 18E no. 18-089

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. ^[8]

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-operated 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. ^[8]

The Class 6E1, Series 11 locomotives which were used in this project were all rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. All forty-five Series 11 locomotives were rebuilt by April 2005. The numbers and renumbering details of the rebuilt units are listed in the table. ^{[7] [9]}

Class 6E1, Series 11 units rebuilt to Class 18E

Count	6E1 no.	Year built	18E no.	18E series	Year rebuilt	Notes
1	E2141	1984	18-117	1	2004
2	E2142	1984	18-111	1	2004
3	E2143	1984	18-154	1	2004
4	E2144	1984	18-005	1	2001
5	E2145	1984	18-148	1	2004
6	E2146	1984	18-116	1	2004
7	E2147	1984	18-136	1	2004
8	E2148	1984	18-145	1	2004
9	E2149	1984	18-068	1	2002
10	E2150	1984	18-003	1	2001
11	E2151	1984	18-119	1	2004
12	E2152	1984	18-091	1	2003
13	E2153	1984	18-075	1	2003
14	E2154	1984	18-092	1	2003
15	E2155	1984	18-105	1	2003
16	E2156	1984	18-125	1	2004
17	E2157	1984	18-031	1	2002
18	E2158	1984	18-101	1	2003
19	E2159	1984	18-162	1	2005
20	E2160	1984	18-150	1	2004
21	E2161	1984	18-152	1	2004
22	E2162	1984	18-071	1	2003
23	E2163	1984	18-095	1	2003
24	E2164	1984	18-112	1	2004
25	E2165	1985	18-038	1	2002
26	E2166	1985	18-007	1	2001
27	E2167	1985	18-017	1	2002
28	E2168	1985	18-171	1	2005
29	E2169	1985	18-173	1	2005
30	E2170	1985	18-110	1	2004
31	E2171	1985	18-168	1	2004
32	E2172	1985	18-129	1	2004
33	E2173	1985	18-109	1	2004
34	E2174	1985	18-106	1	2003
35	E2175	1985	18-098	1	2003
36	E2176	1985	18-120	1	2004
37	E2177	1985	18-172	1	2005
38	E2178	1985	18-140	1	2004
39	E2179	1985	18-170	1	2005
40	E2180	1985	18-048	1	2002
41	E2181	1985	18-157	1	2004
42	E2182	1985	18-118	1	2004
43	E2183	1985	18-066	1	2003
44	E2184	1985	18-083	1	2003
45	E2185	1985	18-146	1	2004

Liveries

All the Class 6E1, Series 11 locomotives were delivered in the SAR red oxide livery with signal red cowcatchers, yellow whiskers and with the number plates on the sides mounted on three-stripe yellow wings. ^[10]

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. 18-050 (ex Series 9 E2013) with recessed end door and rounded door corners
5. E1882 with high mounted door handle
6. 18-253 (ex Series 9 E2058) with two door handles
7. Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide, 2002 Edition, (Compiled by John N. Middleton), p57, as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009
8. 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
9. Information gathered from the rebuild files of individual locomotives at Transnet Rail Engineering's Koedoespoort shops
10. 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)

External links

Media related to South African Class 6E1 Series 11 at Wikimedia Commons