South African Class 7E1

The South African Railways Class 7E1 is a Co-Co electric locomotive for the 25 kV AC system, of which fifty were placed in mainline service in 1980 and 1981. It was designed for the South African Railways by Hitachi, with Dorbyl in South Africa supplying the mechanical parts. The first six units were built by Hitachi in Japan in 1979, and the other forty-four were built by Dorbyl between 1979 and 1981. Because the class was bought for the Richards Bay coal line, where the locomotives always work in multiple, it was built with a single cab. Control of traction and rheostatic braking is by solid-state electronics, with silicon diode rectifiers, and special traction struts nicknamed grasshopper legs help limit wheel slip. Most of the class still works on the Ermelo to Richards Bay Coalink line.