To mark the 50th anniversary of the Staatsspoorwegen in the Dutch East Indies, the line between Batavia (today Jakarta) and Buitenzorg (today Bogor) was electrified in 1925. Direct current with 1,500 volts was used and the required locomotives were obtained from different manufacturers in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. For use in front of express trains on the flatter routes, four six-axle locomotives were used, the mechanical part of which came from SLM and the electrical part from BBC.

The Java bogie was used for the first time on these locomotives, which SLM later successfully used on several locomotives. In addition to the two driving axles fixed in the middle of the frame, there was one of these bogies at each end of the locomotive, each consisting of a leading and a driving axle. The pivot point was close to the driving axles, so that the one-sided Buchli drive could also be attached to these driving axles. 

In the years 1924 and 1927 two of these vehicles were delivered each, which were given the numbers 3001 to 3004. At the KAI they were later given numbers 1 to 4. They remained in service throughout their lives on the same line and were retired in 1976 after being replaced by Nippon Sharyo EMUs. 

In the fifties, the New South Wales Government electrified the first 150 km of the Main Western Line to the north west of Sydney. The new locomotives of class 46 were built by Metropolitan-Vickers and Beyer, Peacock & Co. in England. Since the Australians also used 1,500 V DC, experience from the British classes 76 and 77 were incorporated into the class 46.

After more lines were electrified, some of the 40 locomotives were also used on the Main Northern Line and the Main South Line. They also hauled the Indian Pacific on a small portion. Until 1990, only two had been retired. It took until 1996 for all others to be retired and replaced by diesels, with five being preserved.

Eb 25 after the rebuild to a diesel locomotive

Museum of Transport and Technology

In 1925, the NZR had a battery locomotive built for shunting by the Goodman Manufacturing Co. in the USA. Four more were built in New Zealand four years later. The class designation was EB for “Electric Battery”. A total of 120 battery cells delivered an output of 32 hp. Although new batteries would have been needed shortly before the start of the Second World War, they were not replaced. It was not until the 1950s that they were rebuilt to diesel-electric locomotives with twice the power while retaining the traction motors. The central driver's cab was replaced with an end driver's cab. They were retired in the second half of the 1970s.

In the early 1980s, electrification of a 255-mile section of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) began to increase train weights and speeds on the topographically challenging line. So the most powerful locomotives in New Zealand were built at Brush in Great Britain. They were initially plagued by many problems with the transformers.

From 2006 they were equipped with AAR couplers to be able to pull heavier trains. The withdrawals began in 2016, but this changed relatively quickly. Now, in the interest of environmental protection, further sections of the NIMT will be electrified and twelve of the remaining EF class locomotives will be modernized. The first of these went back into service in 2022.

E 1102 at the Newport Railway Museum

Zzrbiker

At a time when Melbourne's suburban electrified network was the longest in the world, two steeplecab locomotives were ordered. They were used for shunting and freight trains and had the same traction equipment as the multiple units built at the time. In contrast to other steeplecabs, part of the electrical equipment, including the motor, was located between the cabs. A few years later, ten more were ordered with a boxcab body. They proved their superiority over steam locomotives and remained in service even after the introduction of the more modern class L electric locomotives. After two locomotives were destroyed in an accident in 1954, the remaining ten were scrapped between 1981 and 1984.