Beginning in 2000 Spoornet embarked on a program to rebuild dual cab Class 6E1, Series 2 to Series 11 locomotives to single cab Class 18E, Series 1 locomotives that were renumbered in the ranges 18-001 to 18-434 and 18-500 to 18-525. The rebuilding included the installation of Alsthom micro-processor control technology and was done by Transwerk (later Transnet Rail Engineering and then Transnet Engineering) at its Koedoespoort shops in Pretoria, Gauteng. In the process their number 1'end cabs were stripped of all controls in order to have a toilet installed.
18-238 was rebuilt from Class 6E1, Series 9 E2045 and commissioned in 2006.
See also the Wikipedia article on the South African Class 18E, Series 1. |