South African Class 9E, Series 1

No. E9003 at Erts Yard, Kathu, Northern Cape, 5 October 2015

Type and origin
Power type	Electric
Designer	General Electric Company
Builder	Union Carriage and Wagon
Serial number	5546-5570
Model	GEC 9E
Build date	1978-1979
Total produced	25

Specifications
AAR wheel arr	C-C
UIC class	Co'Co'
Gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge
Wheel diameter	1,220 mm (48.0 in)
Wheelbase	16,290 mm (53 ft 5.3 in)
• Bogie	3,940 mm (12 ft 11.1 in)
Pivot centres	12,700 mm (41 ft 8.0 in)
Length:
• Over couplers	21,132 mm (69 ft 4.0 in)
• Over beams	20,120 mm (66 ft 0.1 in)
Width	2,900 mm (9 ft 6.2 in)
Height:
• Pantograph	3,900 mm (12 ft 9.5 in)
• Body height	3,900 mm (12 ft 9.5 in)
Axle load	28,000 kg (62,000 lb) max
Adhesive weight	166,300 kg (366,600 lb)
Loco weight	166,300 kg (366,600 lb)
Power supply	Catenary
Current collection	Pantograph
Traction motors	Six G415AZ
• Rating 1 hour	690 kW (930 hp)
• Continuous	640 kW (860 hp)
Gear ratio	18:83
Loco brake	Air & Rheostatic
Train brakes	Air, Wabco "Vaporid" air dryer
Couplers	AAR knuckle

Performance figures
Maximum speed	90 km/h (56 mph)
Power output:
• 1 hour	4,140 kW (5,550 hp)
• Continuous	3,840 kW (5,150 hp)
Tractive effort:
• Starting	570 kN (130,000 lbf)
• 1 hour	483 kN (109,000 lbf)
• Continuous	388 kN (87,000 lbf)

Career
Operators	South African Railways Spoornet Transnet Freight Rail
Class	Class 9E
Power class	50 kV 50 Hz AC
Number in class	25
Numbers	E9001-E9025
Locale	Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line
Delivered	1978-1979
First run	1978

The South African Railways Class 9E, Series 1 of 1978 is an electric locomotive.

In 1978 and 1979, the South African Railways placed twenty-five 50 kV AC Class 9E, Series 1 electric locomotives with a Co-Co wheel arrangement in service on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore export line.^[1]

Manufacturer

The 50 kV AC Class 9E, Series 1 electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways (SAR) by the General Electric Company (GEC) and was built by Union Carriage and Wagon (UCW) in Nigel, Transvaal. UCW delivered twenty-five locomotives in 1978 and 1979, numbered in the range from E9001 to E9025.^[2]

Features

The locomotive has a single full width air conditioned cab. At the rear end, the bodywork is lower to provide clearance for the 50 kV AC electrical equipment, which is mounted on the roof. This consists of a single pantograph, a potential divider, a vacuum circuit breaker, a surge diverter and the main transformer’s high voltage terminal. The electrical control system is solid state, using thyristors.^[3]

Since huge voltage drops are often encountered between electric sub-stations, the locomotive was designed to be able to operate on a supply varying between 55 and 25 kV AC. The battery boxes and the main air reservoirs are mounted between the bogies beneath the frame, where a compartment houses a small motor scooter, for use by the crew for lineside inspections of the train, which can be up to 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) long.^[3]

Wabco brake air dryer on E9024

Series 1 locomotives have four braking systems, air brakes for the locomotive, train air braking, a handbrake and dynamic rheostatic braking which can dissipate 4,200 kilowatts (5,600 horsepower).^[3]

By 2007, the entire fleet of both series of Class 9E electric locomotives were upgraded with Alstom's Agate train control and communication technology. The pantographs on most of these locomotives were also replaced by the single arm type.^[4]

The Series 1 and Series 2 Class 9Es can be visually distinguished from each other by their bogies, which were redesigned for the Series 2 locomotives.^[1]

Service

Class 9E locomotives are used on the 861 kilometres (535 miles) Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line, to haul export ore from the open cast iron mines at Sishen in the Northern Cape to the harbour at Saldanha in the Western Cape. Most of the route is across the hot and dry Northern Cape, but the last 75 kilometres (47 miles) to Saldanha runs parallel to the Atlantic coastline and is subjected to the fog and salt sea air of the West Coast.^[3]^[5]

In South Africa, the Sishen-Saldanha line is unusual for several reasons.

Construction, which began in 1973, was not undertaken by the SAR, but by the South African Iron and Steel Corporation (ISCOR), who operated the line with diesel-electric motive power. Operations on the Sishen-Saldanha iron ore line was only taken over from ISCOR by the SAR in 1977.
It was electrified by the SAR at 50 kV AC, compared to the 25 kV AC high voltage which was used in other parts of the country.
At the time, it was the longest 50 kV AC electrified railway line in the world.^[3]
It is the only line in South Africa where electric and diesel-electric locomotives are consisted in mixed power use.^[6]

Mixed power

On the Sishen–Saldanha Orex line, General Electric (GE) Classes 34 series and 43-000 diesel-electric locomotives run consisted to Classes 9E and 15E electric locomotives, to haul the 342 truck iron ore trains. Each truck has a 100-ton capacity and the trains are at least 3.72 kilometres (2.31 miles) in length, powered by mixed consists of Classes 9E and 15E electric and GE type U26C Classes 34-000, 34-400, 34-500 and 34-900 and GE type C30ACi Class 43-000 diesel-electric locomotives.^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Ore train about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Lamberts Bay

A Class 9E or Class 15E electric locomotive serves as the master of each mixed electric and diesel-electric consist, with a total of between nine and twelve locomotives per train, twelve being the maximum number allowed. Before the Class 15E was placed in service in 2010, motive power usually consisted of three sets of locomotives, each set made up of one or two Class 9E electrics and one or two Class 34 diesel-electrics, with each set’s leading electric locomotive controlling its respective set of diesel-electrics by means of a slimkabel (smart cable). In effect, each ore train was made up of three separate 114 truck trains consisted together, with the locomotives of all three trains controlled by means of a Locotrol radio distributed power control system by one crew in the leading electric locomotive. A typical train would therefore be made up of locomotive set A, 114 trucks, locomotive set B, 114 trucks, locomotive set C, and 114 trucks.^[1]^[4]^[6]^[7]

Some problems were experienced using this configuration, and after a couple of major derailments, the locomotive configuration was changed to four sets, with locomotive set D initially made up of two Class 34 diesel-electric locomotives at the rear end of the train, pushing at between 40% and 50% of tractive power at all times, depending on the grades being traversed. The total maximum number allowed was still between nine and twelve locomotives per train.^[1]^[4]

As more Class 15Es were delivered and placed in service, Class 9E or Class 15E electrics replaced the pair of Class 34 diesel-electrics in set D. At the same time, the more powerful Classes 15E electric and 43-000 diesel-electric locomotives also made it possible to use as few as seven locomotives per train, with locomotive sets A, B and C each made up of one Class 15E or 9E and one Class 34 or 43-000, and set D of a single Class 9E or 15E.^[1]^[4]

Illustration

The main picture shows no. E9003 in Spoornet blue livery with solid numbers, at the Erts yard near Kathu on 5 October 2015.

No. E9006 in SAR Gulf Red livery near Dingleton, Northern Cape, 14 May 2006
Rear end view of no. E9007, Salkor yard, Saldanha, 19 August 2010
No. E9012 on workshop bogies during servicing, Saldanha, 26 July 2009

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 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
↑ "UCW - Electric locomotives" (PDF). The UCW Partnership. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
1 2 3 4 5 Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 129–131. ISBN 0869772112.
1 2 3 4 5 Information obtained from Transnet Freight Rail
1 2 Middleton, John N. (2002). Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide - 2002 (as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009) (2nd, Dec 2002 ed.). Herts, England: Beyer-Garratt Publications. pp. 50, 62.
1 2 3 Actom Divisions News, 22 July 2010
↑ GE Transportation: Locotrol Distributed Power

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South African Class 9E Series 1.

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3' 6" gauge Tender engines	CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 Beyer, Peacock CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 Kitson CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1879 CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1891 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0 1879 CGR 1st Class 4-4-0TT 1881 CGR 2nd Class 2-6-2TT 1875 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1883 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1884 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1889 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1898 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1901 CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1903 CGR 4th Class 4-4-2 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1880 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1882 CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1884 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1890 CGR 5th Class 4-6-0 1891 DSWA Eight-Coupled Tender 2-8-0 NGR Havelock NGR Class I SAR Class Exp 1 SAR Class Exp 2 SAR Class Exp 3 SAR Class Exp 4 SAR Class Exp 5 SAR Class Exp 6 SAR Class S SAR Class S1 SAR Class S2 SAR Class 1 SAR Class 1A SAR Class 1B SAR Class 2 SAR Class 2C SAR Class 3 SAR Class 3A SAR Class 3B SAR Class 4 SAR Class 4A SAR Class 5 SAR Class 5A SAR Class 5B SAR Class 6 SAR Class 6A SAR Class 6B SAR Class 6C SAR Class 6D SAR Class 6E SAR Class 6F SAR Class 6G SAR Class 6H SAR Class 6J SAR Class 6K SAR Class 6L SAR Class 6Y SAR Class 6Z SAR Class 7 SAR Class 7A SAR Class 7B SAR Class 7C SAR Class 7D SAR Class 7E SAR Class 7F SAR Class 8 SAR Class 8A SAR Class 8B SAR Class 8C SAR Class 8D SAR Class 8E SAR Class 8F SAR Class 8R SAR Class 8X SAR Class 8Y SAR Class 8Z SAR Class 9 SAR Class 10 SAR Class 10A SAR Class 10B SAR Class 10C SAR Class 10D SAR Class 11 SAR Class 12 SAR Class 12A SAR Class 12B SAR Class 13 SAR Class 14 SAR Class 14A SAR Class 14B SAR Class 14C SAR Class 15 SAR Class 15A SAR Class 15B SAR Class 15C SAR Class 15CA SAR Class 15E SAR Class 15F SAR Class 16 SAR Class 16A SAR Class 16B SAR Class 16C SAR Class 16D SAR Class 16DA SAR Class 16E SAR Class 17 SAR Class 18 SAR Class 19 SAR Class 19A SAR Class 19B SAR Class 19C SAR Class 19D SAR Class 20 SAR Class 21 SAR Class 23 SAR Class 24 SAR Class 25 SAR Class 25NC SAR Class 26 Red Devil

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Electric

Amcoal Class E38

Diesel

3' 6" gauge Diesel-electric	PRASA Class Afro 4000 SAR Class DS SAR Class DS1 SAR Class 31-000 SAR Class 32-000 SAR Class 32-200 SAR Class 33-000 SAR Class 33-200 SAR Class 33-400 SAR Class 34-000 SAR Class 34-200 SAR Class 34-400 SAR Class 34-500 SAR Class 34-600 SAR Class 34-800 SAR Class 34-900 SAR Class 35-000 SAR Class 35-200 SAR Class 35-400 SAR Class 35-600 SAR Class 36-000 SAR Class 36-200 SAR Class 37-000 Spoornet Class 39-000 TFR Class 35-800 TFR Class 39-200 TFR Class 43-000 TFR Class 44-000

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3' 6" gauge Diesel-hydraulic	SAR Class 61-000

3' 6" gauge Electro-diesel	Spoornet Class 38-000

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