The Colour Purple

Three class 6E1's have been repainted in Shosholoza Meyl's purple livery at Transnet Rail Engineering's Koedoespoort Workshops in Pretoria. They are E1397, E1464 and E1654. All three locomotives were seen at Koedoespoort on Saturday, 19th September. On Wednesday, 23rd September, E1397 and E1464 each worked the East London and Port Elizabeth Shosholoza Meyl trains from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein.

The following day (Heritage Day) E1464 worked back to Jo'burg on the point of a freight train, despite the fact that these loco's are supposed to be ring-fenced for Shosholoza Meyl duties. E1464 teamed up with two more 6E1's, in old SAR red and Spoornet orange - an interesting lash-up!



E1397 worked the East London - Johannesburg "Economy", train 47014 and looked really smart in its new livery, matching the Shosholoza Meyl passenger cars. The train is seen north of Rooiwal station, passing the outer home and distant signal, which is still operational.



Cheers
Eugene