South African Class 4E

The South African Railways Class 4E of 1952 was a 3 kV DC electric locomotive with a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement. It was designed for the railways by the General Electric Company and built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1952 and 1953. Forty were delivered between 1952 and 1954, numbered E219 to E258, first for the Natal mainline and then for the Cape Town to Touws River line across the Hex River pass, where they were among the most powerful electric locomotives in the world at the time. Their green livery earned the nickname Groen Mamba. They were withdrawn by 1989, and E219 and E258 survive.