#2517
South African Class ES
🇿🇦 South Africa ·built by Werkspoor· from 1936· class of 28 South African electric locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
what is it?
The South African Railways Class ES of 1936 was an electric locomotive. In 1936, the South African Railways built two Class ES centre-cab electric shunting locomotives with a Bo+Bo wheel arrangement, based on the Class 1E mainline electric locomotive. Between then and 1964, more were acquired until a total of 24 Class ES locomotives were eventually in 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 90 years ago, in 1936.
- 896 kW is about 11 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 11 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Served for 48 years (1935–1983).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1936–1964
- in service from
- 1935
- retired
- 1983
- status
- retired
- number built
- 28
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- builders
- Werkspoor, South African Railways and Harbours Administration
- designer
- South African Railways, (A.G. Watson)
- operators
- Driefontein mine, South African Railways and Harbours Administration
- top speed
- 40 km/h
- power
- 896 kW
- gauge
- 1,067 mm Cape gauge
- electric system
- 3 kV DC catenary
- wheel arrangement
- Bo+Bo
- weight
- 68.1 t
- nicknames
- Studebaker
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7565611, Wikipedia: South African Class ES (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.