Between 1975 and 1977 the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 6E1, Series 6 electric locomotives in mainline service, numbered in the range from E1646 to E1745. It was designed and built by Union Carriage and Wagon in Nigel, Transvaal, with the electrical equipment supplied by the General Electric Company (GEC). The Series 6 and Series 7 locomotives are visually indistinguishable from each other, but can be distinguished from earlier series models by their rainwater beadings above the small grilles on the sides just to the right of the side doors.
See also the Wikipedia article on the South African Class 6E1, Series 6.
In the early 1990s no. E1669 and E1709 were semi-permanently coupled as Class 16E no. 16-422A and B respectively. See the Wikipedia article on the South African Class 16E.
No. E1709 re-entered service in 2009 as Class 18E, Series 1 no. 18-503 after being rebuilt. See the Wikipedia article on the South African Class 18E, Series 1. |