page_title: South African Class 6E1, Series 5
section_title: Rebuilding to Class 18E
hierarchical_section_title: South African Class 6E1, Series 5 / Reclassification and rebuilding / Rebuilding to Class 18E
caption_attribution_description: English: TFR Class 18E Series 2 18-698Location: Beaufort West, Western CapeHistory: Rebuilt in 2012 from Class 6E1 Series 5 E1553
context_page_description: 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 One of them was later withdrawn from revenue service for use as an experimental 25 kV AC locomotive.
context_section_description: Beginning 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 unit'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 is 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.
  The known Class 6E1, Series 5 units which were used in this project were all rebuilt to Class 18E, Series 2 locomotives. Their numbers and renumbering details are shown in the table. This list is virtually complete with only seven unknowns remaining:
  The unit number of the Class 6E1 unit that was rebuilt to Class 18E no. 18-851 is not known.
  The status of six units listed as “uncompleted”, of which the existence still need to be confirmed by sighting or photographic evidence. The Class 18E rebuilding program was terminated abruptly in late 2014 with about half a dozen units in various stages of completion on the rebuilding line. Some reports indicated that the incomplete units would be forwarded to Danskraal or Durban for completion, but it could not be confirmed that this actually took place.
caption: Cab 1 of Class 18E no. 18-698, ex Class 6E1 no. E1553, Beaufort West, 29 May 2013
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