Between 1983 and 1985 the South African Railways placed sixty Class 7E3, Series 1 and twenty-five Series 2 locomotives in mainline service. Designed by Hitachi, they were built in South Africa by Dorbyl, who also supplied the mechanical components. Circa 2000 seventeen of these dual cab locomotives, those in the running number range from E7260 to E7276, were reclassified to Class 7E4 after being upgraded and rebuilt to single cab locomotives. The two sides of the Class 7E4 are completely different in appearance and, when coupled end to end, a pair of them appears at first glance to be two different locomotive types.
See also the Wikipedia article on the South African Class 7E4. |