I call them “Big Blues”, but train crews refer to them as “breadbins”…. Transnet Freight Rail’s Class 10E/10E1/10E2 Co-Co 3kvA heavy haul freight locomotives, still sporting predecessor Spoornet’s blue livery. Here a pair of 10E1’s are seen climbing the long grade out of the Wilge (Willow) River valley with a westbound coal train. Only a sprinkling of Cosmos flowers remain in the foreground, heralding the onset of autumn on the South African Highveld. The Kendal coal-fired power station is visible in the background, one of 13 major Eskom power plants operating on the coalfields of the Mpumalanga highveld.
