page_title: South African Class 17E
section_title: Rebuilding to Class 18E
hierarchical_section_title: South African Class 17E / Rebuilding to Class 18E
caption_attribution_description: English: Spoornet Class 18E Series 1 18-328Location: Sentrarand, GautengHistory: Rebuilt in 2007 from Class 6E1 Series 9 E2071
context_page_description: The Spoornet Class 17E of 1993 was a South African electric locomotive.
  During 1993 and 1994, Spoornet modified several Class 6E1, Series 7, 8 and 9 locomotives to improve their braking and traction reliability for service on the Natal mainline. These modified locomotives were reclassified to Class 17E.
context_section_description: In 2000, Spoornet began a project to rebuild Series 2 to 11 Class 6E1 locomotives to Class 18E, Series 1 and Series 2 at the Transnet Rail Engineering (TRE) workshops at Koedoespoort. In the process the cab at the no. 1 end was stripped of all controls and the driver's front and side windows were blanked off to have a toilet installed, thereby forfeiting the locomotive's bi-directional ability.
  Since the driving cab's noise level had to be below 85 decibels, cab 2 was selected as the Class 18E driving cab, primarily based on its lower noise level compared to cab 1 which was closer and more exposed to the compressor's noise and vibration. Another factor was the closer proximity of cab 2 to the low voltage switch panel. The fact that the handbrake was located in cab 2 was not a deciding factor, but was considered an additional benefit.
  While the earlier Class 6E1, Series 2 to 7 locomotives had been built with a brake system which consisted of various valves connected to each other with pipes and commonly referred to as a "bicycle frame" brake system, the Class 6E1, Series 8 to 11 locomotives were built with an air equipment frame brake system, commonly referred to as a brake rack. Since the design of the rebuilt Class 18E locomotives included the same brake rack, the rebuilding project was begun with the newer series 8 to 11 locomotives to reduce the overall cost of rebuilding. 
  Between 2002 and 2007, all but three of the Class 17Es were rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 1. The exceptions are numbers E1778, E1803 and E2035, which are presumed to have been scrapped. The table lists their Class 6E1 series and numbers, Class 18E numbers and year of rebuilding.
caption: Cab 1 of Class 18E no. 18-328, ex Class 17E no. E2071, Sentrarand, 22 September 2009
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