In 1971, the South African Railways placed fifty Class 6E1, Series 2 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service.

Series 2 was the first of the Class 6E1s to have their sandbox lids set into the bottom edge of the locomotive body sides.

A pantograph hook stick was stowed in a tube mounted below the bottom edge of the locomotive body on the roof access ladder side.

[1] While some Class 6E1 series are visually indistinguishable from their predecessors or successors, some externally visible changes did occur over the years.

On the Series 3 units in the number range from E1346 to E1445, an externally visible difference is a wider stirrup below their side doors.

1 end was stripped of all controls to have a toilet installed, thereby forfeiting the unit's bi-directional ability.

The fact that the handbrake was located in cab 2 was not a deciding factor, but was considered an additional benefit.

In the 1990s many of the Series 2 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the cowcatchers.