Between 1974 and 1976, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class 6E1, Series 5 electric locomotives with a Bo-Bo wheel arrangement in mainline service.

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

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

1 end was stripped of all controls and the driver's front and side windows were blanked off to have a toilet installed, thereby forfeiting the unit's bi-directional ability.

Another factor was the closer proximity of cab 2 to the low voltage switch panel.

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

This list is virtually complete with only seven unknowns remaining: The whole series was delivered in the SAR Gulf Red livery with signal red cowcatchers, yellow whiskers and with the number plates on the sides mounted on three-stripe yellow wings.

In the 1990s many of the Series 5 units began to be repainted in the Spoornet orange livery with a yellow and blue chevron pattern on the cowcatchers.

E1629 in the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) Shosholoza Meyl livery.