Tuesday, October 27, 2015

West German E50 (150) class electric


If it looks like an extended version of the E40 class, that's pretty much what it was. A total of 194 of his Co-Co type were built by Krupp, AEG, BBC, Henschel, Krauss-Maffei, and Siemens-Schuckert Orenstein & Koppel (SSW) between 1957 and 1973. 

Their power output was 4,500 kW (6,000 hp) but the most impressive statistic was the starting tractive effort — according to wikipedia, "To date, the Class 150's starting tractive effort of 450 kN (100,000 lbf) remains unparalleled on German rails — in fact it was very close to the breaking force of the chain couplings used at the time of its production. Some engines were therefore fitted with automatic coupling (type unicupler AK69e) to haul heavy ore-trains."

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