The South African Railways Class 11E of 1985 is an electric locomotive.
Between 1985 and 1987, the South African Railways placed forty-five Class 11E electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in mainline service on the Coalink line.
[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]
Manufacturers
The 25 kV AC Class 11E electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
(GM) while its thyristor traction technology was provided by ''
Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget
''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' (English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company.
History
ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås as ...
'' (ASEA) of Sweden. It was built in South Africa by
General Motors South Africa (GMSA), whose corporate name was changed to Delta Motor Corporation two-thirds through the locomotive building process. Altogether forty-five locomotives were delivered between 1985 and 1987, numbered in the range from 11-001 to 11-045.
Characteristics
Appearance
Following the
Class 9E in 1978 and the
Class 7E1 in 1980, the Class 11E was the third single-cab mainline electric locomotive to be acquired by the SAR. Until the Class 9E was introduced all South African mainline electric locomotives were dual cab units, but since the Classes 9E, 7E1 and 11E locomotives were designed to be used in a service where multiple unit operation was the normal practice, a second cab was deemed unnecessary.
Brakes
At the time, they were the most powerful locomotives in SAR service with a continuous power output of compared to the of the
Class 9E. Four units can haul two hundred loaded coal wagons in a train weighing more than . Since they are used on a route where loaded trains face steeper descending than ascending grades, the locomotive was designed to produce of rheostatic braking power.
Bogies
The Class 11E was built with sophisticated traction linkages on the bogies, similar to the bogie design which was introduced on the
Class 6E1 in 1969. Together with the locomotive's electronic wheel-slip detection system, these traction struts, mounted between the linkages on the bogies and the locomotive body and colloquially referred to as grasshopper legs, ensure the maximum transfer of power to the rails without causing wheel-slip by reducing the adhesion of the leading bogie and increasing that of the trailing bogie by as much as 15% upon starting.
Works numbers and delivery dates
The table lists the Class 11E works numbers and the date on which each unit was delivered to the SAR.
[Additional information as supplied by John N. Middleton]
Service
Until 1978, all electrified routes in South Africa used 3 kV DC. Beginning in 1978, was introduced on all new mainline electrification projects bar one, the exception being the Orex iron ore line from
Sishen to
Saldanha Saldanha may refer to:
Places South Africa
* Saldanha Bay, a bay in Western Cape
* Saldanha, Western Cape, a town on the bay
* Saldanha Bay Local Municipality, the unit of government that administers the Saldanha Bay region
Other countries
* Sal ...
where 50 kV AC was used. There are four isolated routes.
* From Pyramid South to
Pietersburg and via
Rustenburg to
Thabazimbi
Thabazimbi is an iron mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town is at the feet of the Ysterberg and is surrounded by the Witfonteinrand and Boshofberg with the majestic Kransberg in the background. The name Thabazimbi mean ...
.
* From
Ermelo to the
Richards Bay Coal Terminal
Richards may refer to:
*Richards (surname)
In places:
* Richards, New South Wales, Australia
* Richards, Missouri, United States
* Richards, Texas, United States
In other uses:
* Richards (lunar crater)
Richards is a small lunar impact crate ...
at
Richards Bay
Richards Bay ( af, Richardsbaai) is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, which makes it one of the country's largest harbours. Richards Bay also has the deepest natural ha ...
.
* From
Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...
to
De Aar
De Aar is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It has a population of around 42,000 inhabitants.
It is the second-most important railway junction in the country, situated on the line between Cape Town and Kimberley. The junctio ...
and from there north to
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
and south to
Beaufort West.
* From
East London
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
to
Springfontein
Springfontein is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
History
The town was established in 1904 on the farm Hartleydale, which was part of the farm Springfontein. The name Springfontein, which is Afrikaans for "j ...
in the
Free State.
The Class 11E was designed primarily for export coal hauling on the 25 kV AC Coalink line between the Mpumalanga coalfields around Ermelo and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal via
Vryheid in
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
.
Liveries
All the Class 11E locomotives were delivered in the SAR red oxide livery with signal red buffer beams and cowcatchers, with yellow whiskers on the ends folded over to below the side windows and with the number plates on the sides mounted on three-stripe yellow wings. In the late 1990s all were repainted in the Spoornet blue livery with either solid or outline numbers on the long hood sides.
[Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 9. South-Eastwards as far as Volksrust (2nd part) by Les Pivnic. Caption 4.](_blank)
(Accessed on 11 April 2017)
Illustration
File:SAR Class 11E 11-028.JPG, Front and left side view of no. 11-028, Vryheid, 16 August 2007
File:SAR Class 11E 11-042.JPG, Right side view of no. 11-042, Vryheid, 15 August 2007
File:SAR Class 11E 11-037.JPG, Rear view of no. 11-027, Vryheid, 15 August 2007
References
{{EMD diesels
3120
Co-Co locomotives
General Motors locomotives
GMSA locomotives
Delta locomotives
Cape gauge railway locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1985
1985 in South Africa