The South African Railways Class 4E of 1952 was an electric locomotive. Between 1952 and 1954, the

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

placed forty Class 4E electric locomotives with a

1Co+Co1 Under the British and Imperial classification scheme of locomotive axle arrangements, which is related to the UIC classification, 1Co+Co1 is a classification code for a locomotive wheel arrangement of two eight-wheeled bogies with an articulated ...

wheel arrangement in temporary service on the Natal mainline and from 1954 on the mainline from Cape Town across the Hex River rail pass to Touws River in the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ex ...

Manufacturer

The 3 kV DC Class 4E electric locomotive was designed for the

(SAR) by the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

(GEC) and was built by the

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wo ...

(NBL) in 1952 and 1953. They were delivered between 1952 and 1954 and were numbered in the range from E219 to E258. The Class 4E was amongst the most powerful electric locomotives in the world at that time.North British Locomotive Company works list, compiled by Austrian locomotive historian Bernhard Schmeiser

Orientation

These dual cab locomotives had two large grilles on one side and a corridor linking the cabs on the opposite side. When observing the locomotive from the side with the grilles, the number 1 end would be to the right. As on the earlier Class 3E, the unit had side doors on both sides behind each cab. It had roof access ladders on the smooth left side only, one aft of each side door. Like the Classes 1E, 2E and 3E, the Class 4E had bogie-mounted pilots and

draft gear A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism typically placed at each end of a railway vehicle that connects them together to form a train. A variety of coupler types have been developed over the course of railway history. Key issues in their desi ...

and an articulated inter-bogie linkage, therefore no train forces were transmitted to the locomotive body.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 Plate NBL 4E (E258)

As delivered, the Class 4E units did not have the "eyebrow" sunshades above the front windscreens. These were later fitted in Cape Town to prevent pantograph grease from befouling the windscreens.Soul of A Railway, System 6, Part 1: Durban Old Station. Caption 21.
(Accessed on 8 March 2017) The Class 4E had a

wheel arrangement, with an additional

bissel truck A Bissell or Bissel truck (also Bissel bogie or Pony truck) is a single-axle bogie which pivots towards the centre of a steam locomotive to enable it to negotiate curves more easily. Invented in 1857 by and usually then known as a ''pony truck'' ...

at the outer end of each of the two three-axle powered bogies. The Classes 32-000 and 32-200 diesel-electric locomotive types also used this wheel arrangement, but the Class 4E was unique amongst South African electric locomotives in this respect.

Service

The Class 4E was specifically acquired for use on the mainline from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

across the Hex River rail pass to Touws River, from where Class 23 and later Class 25 and Class 25NC steam locomotives would take over across the stretch of unelectrified mainline 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 junction ...

and from there to either Kimberley or

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

Since the completion of Eskom’s high-tension power feeds in the Cape was late, the first locomotives to be delivered in 1952 were placed in service on the Natal mainline while awaiting electrification from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

via

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

to Touws River. They were to be transferred to the Cape as soon as the wires were energised, but they eventually had to be withdrawn from Natal earlier because the severe curvature of the Natal mainline caused their frames to crack.Soul of A Railway, System 7, Western Transvaal, based in Johannesburg, Part 3. Johannesburg Station in Transition by Les Pivnic. Caption 26.
(Accessed on 27 March 2017) Class leader no. E219 was the first unit to be relocated to

in March 1953, where it initially ran on the 1.5 kV DC power which was still being used for Cape Town’s suburban trains until the upgrading of the Cape Town lines to 3 kV DC was completed in November 1954. The 3 kV DC electrification from Worcester had reached Touws river in April 1954. Until then, the locomotive's load capacity and mobility were restricted. In Cape service, some teething troubles were experienced with their bogies, particularly when going faster than . The problem was hunting which became increasingly severe at higher speed and the units were therefore employed mainly on goods traffic until 1956, by which time their bogie faults had been ironed out.South African Railways & Harbours Photo Journal, Vol. 6, p. 15, by Les PivnicSoul of A Railway, System 1, Part 2: Cape Town to Wellington. Captions 22, 23, 32.
(Accessed on 26 November 2016)Soul of A Railway, System 1, Part 4: Touws River to Beaufort West Caption 5.
(Accessed on 27 November 2016) The Class 4E was rated at double the load of a Class 15F without banker over the Hex River rail pass, 770 tons against 360 tons for the same train length. With assistance from a banker between

De Doorns De Doorns is situated in the Breede Valley Local Municipality, Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Location It lies in the Hex River Valley on the N1 National Route, 32 km north-east of Worc ...

and Matroosberg, a Class 15F and Class 14CRM combination could almost match the Class 4E, but between Cape Town and De Doorns an unaided Class 4E could haul half as much again as a Class 15F, 1264 tons as against 820 tons. Two Class 4E units briefly served on the Western Transvaal System while being relocated from Natal via Transvaal to the Cape. That system was granted permission to use no. E247 and one other for between four and six weeks, working from the Electric Running Shed at Braamfontein, before the locomotives were forwarded to Cape Town. From 1954 onwards, the Class 4E took over working of the Blue Train with increasing regularity, long before the last Class 15Fs were drafted away to the Cape Midland System in September 1957.

Hex River tunnels scheme

The Class 4E purchase was part of a scheme to eliminate the 1 in 40 (2.5 %) gradients and severe curvature of the Hex River rail pass, which would also entail the construction of a series of four tunnels through the Hex River Mountains. The tunnel system would have enabled a single Class 4E locomotive to haul 1,000 ton trains up the resulting 1 in 66 (1½%) gradients. The

Hex River tunnels The four Hex River Tunnels consist of a twin tunnel of and three single tunnels of , and , on the Hexton railway route between De Doorns and Kleinstraat through the Hex River Mountains of the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The line, w ...

scheme (Hexton) was initially started in 1945, but was deferred indefinitely in 1950 as a result of financial constraints. The tunnel scheme was briefly resuscitated in 1965 but was deferred once again in 1966. Work was eventually resumed in 1974 and included the remodelling of the lower section of the deviation between De Doorns and Osplaas as well as the construction of the short twin tunnels. This was completed in 1976, at which point financial constraints resulted in yet another postponement. Authority to proceed was only given once again in late 1979.South African Construction World, July 1990, pp. 60-61 When the project was resumed, the eastern portal of the longest tunnel was relocated a short distance to the southeast of the original site, while the location of the western portal remained as originally planned. The tunnel system was opened on 27 November 1989, by which time the Class 4Es were already withdrawn from service after having spent their entire careers double-heading trains across the Hex River rail pass.

Liveries

The Class 4E was delivered in an all-over green livery with red cowcatchers. The colour and the almost length of the locomotive quickly earned it the nickname ' (Green Mamba). This changed to ' (Large Mamba) when the much shorter Class 5E began to work in the Cape and was nicknamed ' (Little Mamba) by the Cape Western System’s enginemen.Railways of Southern Africa Locomotive Guide, 2002 Edition, (Compiled by John N. Middleton), 4E photograph, as amended by Combined Amendment List 4, January 2009 Soon after they entered service,

Hex River Valley The Hex River Mountains ( af, Hexrivierberge) make up the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa and are located 120 kilometres (75 miles) north-east of Cape Town. They form part of a large anticline in th ...

farmers complained that the bottle green livery made the locomotives difficult to see when they were approaching through the vineyards. In 1954, yellow lines were added all around the locomotive to improve its visibility, with various line patterns being used before eventually settling on the V shaped whiskers on the ends which extended onto the sides, and multiple lines around the number plates on the sides. The attractive whiskers livery was adopted for all the electric locomotive classes of the SAR.South African Railways & Harbours Photo Journal, Vol. 7, pp. 16-17, by Les Pivnic Beginning in 1960, a Gulf Red and yellow whiskers livery gradually replaced the green and yellow.

Preservation

As of 2015, no. E258 has been staged at Bloemfontein Locomotive Depot where a Locomotive Museum is being created to restore it and some other historically significant units. Class leader no. E219 survives at Krugersdorp’s Millsite Locomotive Depot.

Works numbers

The NBL works numbers of the Class 4E are listed in the table.

Illustration

File:Class 4E no. E258 b2.jpg, Left side of no. E258 with its no. 2 end leading, Vlottenburg station, 24 May 1993 File:Class 4E no. E258 a.jpg, No. E258 showing the length which earned it the Green Mamba nickname, 24 May 1993 File:SAR Class 4E E258.JPG, Right side of no. E258 with its no. 1 end at right, Bloemfontein, 18 September 2015 File:Class 4E no. E238.jpg, No. E238 in Gulf Red and yellow whiskers livery at Salt River Depot in Cape Town, 11 April 1970

References

{{General Electric Company plc Cape gauge railway locomotives 2770 GEC locomotives NBL locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1952 1-C+C-1 locomotives (1′Co)+(Co1′) locomotives 1Co+Co1 locomotives