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South African Class 17E
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During 1993 and 1994 Spoornet modified several Class 6E1, Series 7,
South African Class 6E1, Series 7
Between 1977 and 1979 the South African Railways placed one hundred and fifty Class 6E1, Series 7 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in main line service.- Manufacturer :...

 Series 8
South African Class 6E1, Series 8
Between 1979 and 1981 the South African Railways placed one hundred and five Class 6E1, Series 8 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in main line service.- Manufacturer :...

 and Series 9
South African Class 6E1, Series 9
In 1981 and 1982 the South African Railways placed eighty-five Class 6E1, Series 9 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in main line service.-Manufacturer:...

 locomotives to improve their braking and traction reliability for service on the Natal main line. These modified locomotives were reclassified to Class 17E.

Manufacturer

The Class 6E1 3kV DC electric locomotive was built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal, with the electrical equipment supplied by the General Electric Company (GEC). UCW did not allocate works numbers to the locomotives it built for the SAR. While usual practice by most other locomotive builders was to allocate builder’s numbers or works numbers to record the locomotives built by them, UCW simply used the SAR running numbers for their record keeping.

Class 6E1 characteristics

To ensure the maximum transfer of power to the rails without causing wheel slip, the Class 6E1 was built with sophisticated traction links between the bogies and the frames and equipped with electronic wheel slip detection. These traction struts and linkages were to become a distinguishing feature of most subsequent South African electric locomotive models.

Orientation

These dual cab locomotives have a roof access ladder on one side only, just to the right of the cab access door. The roof access ladder end is marked as the number 2 end. A passage along the centre of the locomotive connects the cabs.

Series identifying features

Series 6 and Series 7 locomotives are visually indistinguishable from each other, but can be distinguished from the older series models by the rain water beading above the small grilles on the sides just to the right of the side doors. Series 8 locomotives can be distinguished from 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.

The Series 9 locomotives could be distinguished from all earlier models by the rain water drainage holes on their lower sides. These holes were usually covered by so-called buckets, although the covers are absent on several locomotives. Further distinctions were the end doors that were recessed into the doorframes on Series 9 locomotives, compared to earlier models that had the end doors flush with the doorframes. In addition, unlike all earlier models, all four doors on Series 9 locomotives had rounded corners.

Modification to Class 17E

Class 17E locomotives were modified and reclassified from Class 6E1, Series 7, 8 or 9 locomotives during 1993 and 1994. Key modifications included improved regenerative braking and wheel slip control to improve their reliability on the steep grades and curves of the Natal
Natal Province
Natal, meaning "Christmas" in Portuguese, was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...

 main line.

Unlike the Class 16E locomotives, which were renumbered and reclassified but otherwise unmodified semi permanently coupled pairs of Class 6E1, Series 3 to Series 9 locomotives that merely had their number 1 end cabs abandoned in terms of maintenance, the Class 17Es retained their original running numbers after reclassification, but with a "17E" marking applied below the locomotive’s running number behind the driver’s side window.

Apart from the "17E" markings, they are visually indistinguishable from unmodified Class 6E1s. Those in SAR Gulf Red and yellow whiskers livery that still carried number plates even still showed "6E1" on the plates. Altogether one hundred and thirty-nine Class 6E1 locomotives were modified to Class 17E, of which fourteen were Series 7, fifty-five series 8 and seventy Series 9.

Rebuilding to Class 18E

Beginning in 2000, Spoornet started a project of rebuilding Series 6 to 11 Class 6E1 and Class 17E locomotives to Class 18E
South African Class 18E, Series 1
Beginning in 2000 Spoornet embarked on a program to rebuild Class 6E1, Series 6 to Series 11 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Most of the Class 6E1s that had previously been reclassified or modified to Class 16E or Class 17E were rebuilt to Class 18E as well.-Manufacturer:The South...

 locomotives at the Koedoespoort Transwerk workshops. In the process the cab at the number 1 end was stripped of all controls in order to have a toilet installed to accommodate female crew, thereby forfeiting the loco's bi-directional ability.

The table shows a list of Class 6E1 units that were rebuilt to Class 17E, as well as the Class 18E numbers of those units that were subsequently rebuilt once again, including their dates in service as Class 18E.

Gallery

The main picture shows Class 17E number E1826, ex Class 6E1, Series 7, at Capital Park, Pretoria, Gauteng on 28 September 2006.


See also

  • South African Class 6E1, Series 7
    South African Class 6E1, Series 7
    Between 1977 and 1979 the South African Railways placed one hundred and fifty Class 6E1, Series 7 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in main line service.- Manufacturer :...

  • South African Class 6E1, Series 8
    South African Class 6E1, Series 8
    Between 1979 and 1981 the South African Railways placed one hundred and five Class 6E1, Series 8 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in main line service.- Manufacturer :...

  • South African Class 6E1, Series 9
    South African Class 6E1, Series 9
    In 1981 and 1982 the South African Railways placed eighty-five Class 6E1, Series 9 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in main line service.-Manufacturer:...

  • South African Class 16E
    South African Class 16E
    During 1990 and 1991 Spoornet semi permanently coupled several pairs of otherwise unmodified Series 3 to Series 9 Class 6E1 electric locomotives, reclassified them to Class 16E and allocated a single shared running number to each pair, with the individual locomotives in the pairs inscribed "A" or...

  • South African Class 18E, Series 1
    South African Class 18E, Series 1
    Beginning in 2000 Spoornet embarked on a program to rebuild Class 6E1, Series 6 to Series 11 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Most of the Class 6E1s that had previously been reclassified or modified to Class 16E or Class 17E were rebuilt to Class 18E as well.-Manufacturer:The South...

  • Electric locomotive numbering and classification
  • List of South African locomotive classes
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