#5205
South African Class 7E4
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Transwerk· from 2000· class of South African electric locomotives
3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Class 7E4 no. E7274: Philmar du Plessis· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. SAR Class 7E4 E7275 Left: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. SAR Class 7E4 E7275: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Spoornet Class 7E4 of 2001 is a South African electric locomotive. In 1983 and 1984, the South African Railways placed sixty Class 7E3, Series 1 electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in mainline service. These were followed by another twenty-five Class 7E3, Series 2 locomotives in 1984 and 1985.
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 21 African elephants (~6 t each).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 2000–2003
- in service from
- 2001
- number built
- 17
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Transwerk
- designer
- Hitachi
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail
- top speed
- 100 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- electric system
- 25 kV AC/50 Hz catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Co'Co'
- weight
- 124 t
- nicknames
- MacGyver
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q356507, Wikipedia: South African Class 7E4 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.