South African Class 7E2, Series 2

The South African Class 7E2, Series 2 of 1983 is a South African electric locomotive from the South African Railways era.

In 1983 the South African Railways placed forty Class 7E2, Series 2 electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in mainline service.^[2]

Manufacturer

Builders’ plate, no. E7204

The 25 kV AC Class 7E2, Series 2 electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by the 50 ^c/s Group, a consortium consisting of ACEC of Belgium, AEG-Telefunken and Siemens of Germany, Alsthom-Atlantique and Société MTE of France, and Brown Boveri of Switzerland.^[3]

It was built by Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal, who delivered forty locomotives in 1983, numbered in the range from E7176 to E7215. 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.^[2]

Features

Rheostatic brakes

Control of traction and rheostatic braking on the Class 7E2, Series 2 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 Classes 7E and 7E2, Series 1, these locomotives were 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 Series 2 locomotives can be distinguished from the Series 1 by the vertical grilles just to the rear of the driver’s window on both sides on the Series 2 locomotives, absent on Series 1. 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 2 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 2 was placed in service on the northern 25 kV AC routes that stretch from Pyramid South, just north of Pretoria, to Pietersburg and via Rustenburg to Thabazimbi, where they still serve.^[4]

Liveries illustrated

The main picture shows number E7215 in its original SAR Gulf Red and yellow whiskers livery. Other liveries that were applied to Class 7E2, Series 2 locomotives are illustrated below.

• 

  No. E7202 in Spoornet orange livery at Pyramid South loco depot, 6 October 2009

• 

  No. E7182 in Spoornet maroon at Pyramid North, 6 October 2009

• 

  No. E7200 in Spoornet blue with outline numbers at Pyramid South, 6 October 2009

• 

  No. E7201 in PRASA's Shosholoza Meyl livery at Pyramid South, 7 May 2013

See also

• Electric locomotive numbering and classification
• List of South African locomotive classes
• South African Class 7E2, Series 1
• South African locomotive history

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South African Class 7E2 Series 2

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