South African Class 5E1, Series 2

The South African Railways Class 5E1, Series 2 of 1963 was an electric locomotive.

In 1963 and 1964 the South African Railways placed one hundred and thirty Class 5E1, Series 2 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service. These were the first electric locomotives to be built in South Africa in quantity.^[1]

Manufacturer

Series 2 of the Metropolitan-Vickers (Metrovick) designed 3 kV DC Class 5E1 electric locomotive was built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal, with the electrical equipment supplied by Associated Electrical Industries (AEI).^[2][3]

UCW, at the time Australian owned, opened its works at Nigel in 1959 and the building of the Class 5E1, Series 2 was its first large locomotive order.^[4]

It did not allocate builder's numbers to the locomotives it built for the SAR, but used the SAR unit numbers for record keeping. The Series 2 locomotives were all built in 1963 and were numbered in the range from E591 to E720.^[1]

No. E591, the first in the series, was handed over to the SAR in January 1963 as the first mainline electric locomotive constructed in South Africa.^[5]

Class 5E1 series

The Class 5E1 was produced in five series, the Series 1 built by Metrovick and the Series 2 to 5 built by UCW. Between 1959 and 1969 altogether 690 of them were delivered, 135 Series 1, 130 Series 2, 100 Series 3, 100 Series 4 and 225 Series 5.^[1][2]

With the exception of Series 2 and 3, the series distinction between Class 5E1 locomotives was based on the different model traction motors each was equipped with, MV 281 in Series 1, AEI 281 AZX in Series 2 and 3, AEI 281 AX in Series 4 and AEI 281 BX in Series 5. The distinction between the series 2 and 3 locomotives appears to have been based on the grounds of the design of their traction motor bearings.^[1][6]

Identifying features

These dual cab locomotives have a roof access ladder on one side only, just to the right of the cab access door. The roof access ladder end is marked as the no. 2 end. A passage along the centre of the locomotive connects the cabs, which are identical except that Cab 2 is where the handbrake is located.^[1]

The locomotive has two cut-outs on the roofline on the roof access ladder side, but an unbroken roofline on the opposite side. Like the predecessor Class 5E, the Class 5E1, Series 1 and 2 had two rectangular panels on the lower sides above the battery box, but they also had an additional rectangular panel on the lower sides above the second axle from the left.

The Series 1 and 2 locomotives could be distinguished from each other by the builder's plates on their end doors, a rectangular Metropolitan-Vickers plate on Series 1 locomotives and an oval Union Carriage and Wagon plate on Series 2. The Series 3, 4 and 5 locomotives can be visually distinguished from earlier models by their three small square panels on the lower sides above the battery box, compared to the two larger rectangular panels on the Series 1 and 2 locomotives. Series 4 and 5 locomotives can be distinguished from all earlier models by their one small square and one larger rectangular panels on the lower sides above the second axle from the left, compared to the single rectangular panel on all earlier models.

Brakes

The locomotive itself used air brakes, but it was only equipped to operate trains with vacuum brakes. While hauling a train, the locomotive's air brake system would be made subordinate to the train's brake system and would come into operation as the train brakes were being applied, gradually building up to its maximum of 350 kilopascals (51 pounds per square inch). While working a train downgrade, the locomotive's regenerative braking system would also work in conjunction with the train brakes.

The locomotive's air brakes would usually only be used along with the train brakes during emergencies. Under normal circumstances the train would be controlled using the train brakes alone to slow down and stop.

While the locomotive was stopped, the air brakes on each bogie could be applied independently. The handbrake or parking brake, located in Cab no. 2, only operated on the unit's last axle, or no. 7 and 8 wheels.

Traction motor bearings

The axle-hung traction motors of all earlier SAR electric locomotives were suspended on the axles by means of plain oil-lubricated bearings consisting of bronze shells with white metal linings. With the introduction of the more powerful Class 5E1, Series 1 considerable trouble was experienced due to flaking of the white metal linings as a result of the increased intensity of the pressure on these bearings. The use of roller bearings was investigated and one traction motor of a Class 1E was converted for trial purposes. Since satisfactory results were obtained, it was decided to equip the traction motors of these 130 UCW-built Series 2 locomotives with roller-type suspension bearings.^[6]

The arrangement consisted of a self-aligning spherical roller bearing at the pinion end and a parallel roller bearing at the commutator end of the traction motor. The roller bearings were grease-lubricated and were carried in a split cannon box to which the traction motor was attached by means of two clamps which engaged cylindrically-machined seatings on the outside of the housing. The roller-type suspension bearings required little attention other than the replenishment of the grease when the wheels were removed for tyre-turning.^[6]

Orders for the subsequent Class 5E1, Series 3 and later models made provision for roller suspension bearings incorporating a lip-type cylindrical roller bearing to replace the self-aligning spherical roller bearing at the pinion end, and alternatively for tapered roller bearings at both ends. Since the external dimensions of the bearing housings would remain the same, the traction motors would still be freely interchangeable.^[6]

Service

The Class 5E1 served on all 3 kV DC electrified mainlines country-wide for almost forty years, but by the early 2000s the Series 2 locomotives were all retired. After withdrawal from SAR service, fifteen of the Series 2 locomotives were sold to the Middelburg, Transvaal, mines of the Ingwe Coal Corporation, where three were later scrapped and the rest renumbered in the range from 5401 to 5412. The Ingwe locomotives were numbers E607, E609, E617, E630, E649, E650, E655, E661, E669, E670, E673, E675, E678, E681 and E696.^[3]

Illustration

The main picture shows no. E610 in the SAR Gulf Red and whiskers livery which was introduced in 1960 and which the whole series was delivered in. No. E613, displayed below in the pre-1960 SAR green and whiskers livery, was repainted green in the early 1990s for use on Union Limited tour trains.^[3]

• 
  No. E613 in SAR green and whiskers at Bloemfontein, Free State, 18 September 2015
• 
  No. E615 in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers, in the Bellville Yard, Cape Town, 27 June 2009
• 
  No. E616 in SAR Gulf Red and whiskers, being cut up at Danskraal, Ladysmith, 26 April 2007

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 5E1 Series 2.

Locomotives of South Africa
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Electric	Amcoal Class E38 SAR Class ES SAR Class ES1 SAR Class Exp-AC SAR Class 1E SAR Class 2E SAR Class 3E SAR Class 4E SAR Class 5E s1 SAR Class 5E s2 SAR Class 5E s3 SAR Class 5E1 s1 SAR Class 5E1 s2 SAR Class 5E1 s3 SAR Class 5E1 s4 SAR Class 5E1 s5 SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6E1 s1 SAR Class 6E1 s2 SAR Class 6E1 s3 SAR Class 6E1 s4 SAR Class 6E1 s5 SAR Class 6E1 s6 SAR Class 6E1 s7 SAR Class 6E1 s8 SAR Class 6E1 s9 SAR Class 6E1 s10 SAR Class 6E1 s11 SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7E1 SAR Class 7E2 s1 SAR Class 7E2 s2 SAR Class 7E3 s1 SAR Class 7E3 s2 Spoornet Class 7E4 SAR Class 8E SAR Class 9E s1 SAR Class 9E s2 SAR Class 10E SAR Class 10E1 s1 Spoornet Class 10E1 s2 SAR Class 10E2 SAR Class 11E SAR Class 12E Spoornet Class 14E Spoornet Class 14E1 TFR Class 15E Spoornet Class 16E Spoornet Class 17E Spoornet Class 18E s1 TFR Class 18E s2 TFR Class 19E TFR Class 20E TFR Class 21E TFR Class 22E
Gas-electric	SAR Gas-electric
Diesel	3' 6" gauge Diesel-electric PRASA Class Afro 4000 SAR Class DS SAR Class DS1 SAR Class 31-000 SAR Class 32-000 SAR Class 32-200 SAR Class 33-000 SAR Class 33-200 SAR Class 33-400 SAR Class 34-000 SAR Class 34-200 SAR Class 34-400 SAR Class 34-500 SAR Class 34-600 SAR Class 34-800 SAR Class 34-900 SAR Class 35-000 SAR Class 35-200 SAR Class 35-400 SAR Class 35-600 TFR Class 35-800 SAR Class 36-000 SAR Class 36-200 SAR Class 37-000 Spoornet Class 39-000 TFR Class 39-200 TFR Class 43-000 TFR Class 44-000 2' gauge Diesel-electric SAR Class 91-000 3' 6" gauge Diesel-hydraulic SAR Class 61-000 3' 6" gauge Electro-diesel Spoornet Class 38-000
List of South African locomotive classes South African locomotive numbering and classification