The South African Railways Class 5E, Series 2 of 1957 was an electric locomotive.
In 1957 and 1958, the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 5E, electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service.South African Railways Index and Diagrams Electric and Diesel Locomotives, 610mm and 1065mm Gauges, Ref LXD 14/1/100/20, 28 January 1975, as amended
Manufacturer The 3 kV DC Class 5E, Series 2 electric locomotive was built for the South African Railways (SAR) by Vulcan Foundry (VF) on a sub-contract from English Electric (EE), who had designed the locomotive and supplied the electrical equipment. Forty-five series 2 locomotives were delivered and placed in service in 1957 and 1958, numbered in the range from E319 to E363.
They were delivered in a bottle green livery with red cowcatchers. Yellow lines and whiskers were added later to improve their visibility. Beginning in 1960, a Gulf Red and yellow whiskers livery replaced the green and yellow. Since repainting was only done during major overhauls, some of these units were still working in their original as-delivered plain green livery without yellow whiskers as late as 1963.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 17: Northwards to just short of the home signal at Pretoria by Les Pivnic. Caption 20. (Accessed on 27 April 2017)
Orientation These dual cab locomotives had a roof access ladder on one side only, just to the right of the cab access door. The roof access ladder end was marked as the no. 2 end. A corridor along the centre of the locomotive connected the cabs, which were identical except that Cab 2 was where the handbrake was located.
Service According to crews, the Class 5E gave a rough ride, which soon earned it the nickname . The successor Class 5E1 with its new design bogies gave a smoother ride.
The Class 5E entered service on the Natal mainline between Durban and Johannesburg and eventually served almost country-wide as electrification was completed on more mainlines. In 1960, sixty units of the Class 5E family were allocated to the Witbank section upon completion of its electrification. In December 1961 twelve of them were replaced by Class 32-000 diesel-electric locomotives and transferred to the newly electrified Touws River-Beaufort West section. More followed to replace the Class 25 condensers that were being transferred from that section to Beaconsfield in Kimberley at the time.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 21: Witbank Line by Les Pivnic, Eugene Armer, Peter Stow and Peter Micenko. Caption 10. (Accessed on 4 May 2017)
After withdrawal from service, three Class 5E, Series 2 locomotives were sold into industrial service. No. E320 was sold to the Impala platinum mine in Rustenburg. No. E343 and E356 were sold to the Driefontein gold mine near Carletonville.
Works numbers The EE and VF works numbers of the Class 5E, Series 2 and their known disposal are listed in the table. +Class 5E, Series 2Loco no.EE worksno.VF worksno.SoldtoE319 2421 E149 E320 2422 E150 ImpalaE321 2423 E151 E322 2424 E152 E323 2425 E153 E324 2426 E154 E325 2427 E155 E326 2428 E156 E327 2429 E157 E328 2430 E158 E329 2431 E159 E330 2432 E160 E331 2433 E161 E332 2434 E162 E333 2435 E163 E334 2436 E164 E335 2437 E165 E336 2438 E166 E337 2439 E167 E338 2440 E168 E339 2441 E169 E340 2442 E170 E341 2443 E171 E342 2444 E172 E343 2445 E173 DriesE344 2446 E174 E345 2447 E175 E346 2448 E176 E347 2449 E177 E348 2450 E178 E349 2451 E179 E350 2452 E180 E351 2453 E181 E352 2454 E182 E353 2455 E183 E354 2456 E184 E355 2457 E185 E356 2458 E186 DriesE357 2459 E187 E358 2460 E188 E359 2461 E189 E360 2462 E190 E361 2463 E191 E362 2464 E192 E363 2465 E193
Illustration The main picture shows Series 2 no. E326 and E319 and Series 1 no. E297, departing Touws River heading northeast towards Beaufort West in September 1984. The following pictures show the SAR Gulf Red and the Driefontein gold mine liveries. An overhead view of the locomotive is shown in a picture taken at an accident scene near Olifantsfontein in 1975.
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