#5204
South African Class 18E, Series 1
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Transwerk· from 2000· class of 446 South African electric locomotives
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. SAR Class 18E Series 1 18-264: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. SAR Class 18E Series 1 18-224: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. Class 18E 18-089 brake rack: User:Jaco Holtzhausen· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 4. Class 18E 18-089 compressed air pipes: User:Jaco Holtzhausen· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 5. Class 18E 18-197: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. Class 18E 18-349: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 7. Class 18E 18-508: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 8. SAR Class 18E Series 1 18-001: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 9. SAR Class 18E Series 1 18-009: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 10. SAR Class 18E Series 1 18-048: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Spoornet Class 18E, Series 1 of 2000 is a South African electric locomotive. Beginning in 2000, Spoornet embarked on a program to rebuild Class 6E1 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives. Most of the Class 6E1s which had previously been reclassified or modified to Class 16E or Class 17E respectively were rebuilt to Class 18E as well.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 26 years ago, in 2000.
- Weighs about as much as 15 African elephants (~6 t each).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 2000–2009
- in service from
- 2000
- number built
- 446
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Transwerk
- designer
- Union Carriage & Wagon
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- electric system
- 3 kV DC catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo'
- weight
- 88.9 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7565484, Wikipedia: South African Class 18E, Series 1 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.