In 1983 and 1984 the South African Railways placed sixty Class 7E3, Series 1 electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in mainline service, numbered in the range from E7216 to E7275. Designed by Hitachi, they were built in South Africa by Dorbyl, who also supplied the mechanical components. The two sides of the Class 7E3 are completely different in appearance and a pair of them may appear at first glance to be two different locomotive types. Circa 2000 sixteen of these dual cab locomotives were reclassified to Class 7E4 after being upgraded and rebuilt to single cab locomotives.
See also the Wikipedia article on the South African Class 7E3, Series 1. |