RailPictures.Net Photo: 18 391, 18 634, 18 123, 18 141, 18 171 Transnet Freight Rail Class 18E at Ogies, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa by Eugene Armer
On a chilly winter morning on the South African highveld, a Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) coal train is passing the Kendal Power Station near the town of Ogies, in the province of Mpumalanga. Kendal is the largest dry-cooled coal-fired power station in the world, operated by Eskom, a State-owned Enterprise (SOE) that has the monopoly of power generation in the country. Ironically, both Eskom and TFR are but two of South Africa's SOE's currently mired in accusations of widespread corruption, mismanagement and 'state capture'. The locomotives are class 18E's, rebuilt from class 6E1's that originally entered service in the 1970's.
