#4226
South African Class 6E1, Series 5
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Union Carriage & Wagon· from 1974· class of 100 South African electric locomotives
10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1629 Purple: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1557: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1558: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 4. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1564: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 5. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1566: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 6. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1577: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 7. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1592: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 8. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1597 ID: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 9. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1607 16-335A: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 10. SAR Class 6E1 Series 5 E1629 Blue: Col André Kritzinger· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The South African Railways Class 6E1, Series 5 of 1974 was an electric locomotive. Between 1974 and 1976, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 6E1, Series 5 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service. One of them was later withdrawn from revenue service for use as an experimental 25 kV AC locomotive.
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 52 years ago, in 1974.
- 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
- 1974–1976
- in service from
- 1974
- number built
- 100
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Union Carriage & Wagon
- designer
- Union Carriage & Wagon
- operators
- Transnet Freight Rail, South African Railways and Harbours Administration, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa
- top speed
- 113 km/h
- 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 Q7565559, Wikipedia: South African Class 6E1, Series 5 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.