#3853
South African Class 5E1, Series 4
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Union Carriage & Wagon· from 1965· class of 100 South African electric locomotives
4 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. SAR Class 5E1 Series 4 E905: Hennie Heymans· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Class 5E1 Series 4 E866: User:John Middleton· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. SAR Class 5E1 Series 4 E888: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 4. SAR Class 5E1 Series 4 E894: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The South African Railways Class 5E1, Series 4 of 1965 was an electric locomotive. In 1965 and 1966 the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 5E1, Series 4 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service.
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 61 years ago, in 1965.
- Weighs about as much as 14 African elephants (~6 t each).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1965
- in service from
- 1965
- number built
- 100
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Union Carriage & Wagon
- designer
- Metropolitan-Vickers
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail, South African Railways and Harbours Administration
- top speed
- 97 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- electric system
- 3 kV DC catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo'Bo'
- weight
- 86.4 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7565542, Wikipedia: South African Class 5E1, Series 4 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.