South African Class 7E2, Series 1

The South African Class 7E2, Series 1 of 1982 is a South African electric locomotive from the South African Railways era.

In 1982 the South African Railways placed twenty-five Class 7E2, Series 1 electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in mainline service.^[2]

Manufacturer

The 25 kV AC Class 7E2, Series 1 electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by the 50 ^c/s Group consisting of ACEC of Belgium, AEG-Telefunken and Siemens of Germany, Alsthom-Atlantique and Société MTE of France, and Brown Boveri of Switzerland.^[3]

Builders’ plate on no. E7163

Twenty-five locomotives were built by Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal and delivered in 1982, numbered in the range from E7151 to E7175. Union Carriage and Wagon did not allocate builder’s numbers to the locomotives it built for the SAR, but used the SAR unit numbers for their record keeping.^[2]

Features

Rheostatic brakes

The control of traction and rheostatic braking on the Class 7E2, Series 1 is by stepless solid-state electronics. The electrical equipment was designed for high power factor operation, obtained by a sector control method.^[1] Like the earlier South African Class 7E, these locomotives are equipped with thyristor technology from the 50 ^c/s Group.

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.^[2]

Identifying features

In visual appearance the Class 7E2, Series 1 can be distinguished from the Series 2 by the absence of the vertical grilles just to the rear of the driver’s window on both sides on Series 2 locomotives. Both series have a large grille to the right of centre on the side opposite the roof access ladder side, near roof level on Series 1 locomotives and low down near sill level on Series 2. The three grilles in line just to the rear of the side doors on Series 1 locomotives were replaced with a single long grille on Series 2 locomotives. Like the Class 7E, some of the Class 7E2 Series 1 locomotives have distinctive "eyebrow" rainwater beadings above their cab windscreens, but these were added post-delivery and were not installed on all the locomotives.^[2]

Service

The Class 7E2, Series 1 was placed in service on the northern 25 kV routes from Pyramid South north of Pretoria to Pietersburg and via Rustenburg to Thabazimbi. In 2012, as more of the new Class 19E locomotives became available, some were transferred to the Eastern Cape, where they augmented the existing Class 7E fleet working out of Port Elizabeth via De Aar to Kimberley and Beaufort West.^[4]

Liveries illustrated

The main picture shows number E7153 in Spoornet blue livery with outline numbers. Other liveries that were applied to Class 7E2, Series 1 locomotives are illustrated below. The pictures also serve to illustrate the difference between the two sides of the locomotive.

• 

  No. E7174 in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers livery at Pyramid South, 6 October 2009

• 

  No. E7154 in Spoornet orange livery at Pyramid South, 6 October 2009

• 

  No. E7153 in Spoornet maroon livery at Pyramid South, 6 October 2009

• 

  No. E7168 in Spoornet blue with solid numbers at Swartkops, 19 April 2013

• 

  No. E7173 in Transnet Freight Rail livery at Swartkops, 18 April 2013

See also

• Electric locomotive numbering and classification
• List of South African locomotive classes
• South African Class 7E2, Series 2
• South African locomotive history

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South African Class 7E2 Series 1

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