FS E.550

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FS E.550
E.550.025.jpg
Numbering: E.550.001-186
Number: 186
Manufacturer: Società Italiana Westinghouse
Year of construction (s): 1908-1921
Retirement: 1965
Axis formula : E.
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length over buffers: 9,520 mm
Height: 3,730 mm
Width: 2,903 mm
Total wheelbase: 6,120 mm
Service mass: 64 t
Friction mass: 61.4 t
Wheel set mass : 13 t
Top speed: 50 km / h
Continuous output : 1,500 kW
Starting tractive effort: 100 kN
Driving wheel diameter: 1,070 mm
Power system : 3.6 kV / 16.7 Hz three-phase current
Power transmission: direct power transmission from three-phase catenary to three-phase traction motors
Number of traction motors: 2
Drive: Angular rod drive type Kandó with 2 electric motors located deep in the frame
Brake: Handbrake
air brake
Particularities: first series locomotive for the three-phase network in Northern Italy

The E.550 series was an electric locomotive series of the Italian railway company Ferrovie dello Stato . It was used on the northern Italian three-phase network, especially in freight train services.

history

E 550.030 in the Milan Museum of Technology

The locomotive was the first locomotive built for the northern Italian three-phase network . It was built according to the plans of Kálmán Kandó in the Società Italiana Westinghouse and, when it was built, represented a major step forward over steam traction, as it had twice the power on the rails compared to the FS 470 , which was only half as long was able to bring. This enabled a significant expansion of operations on the Turin – Genoa railway line with the crossing of the Giovipass , and the locomotive was then given the nickname Mule vom Giovipass .

From 1908, a total of 186 copies were built in five different versions and eight deliveries. Usually two E.550s carried a 380 ton freight train at a speed of 50 km / h. The three-phase locomotives proved themselves so well that the Italian state railroad electrified further routes with three-phase current . With the delivery of the FS E.551 , which was able to put more than 500 kW more power on the rails, they were displaced by the demanding services and provided the service on the less demanding lines of the northern Italian three-phase network . Although many locomotives were decommissioned in the interwar period, there were still many locomotives in the Savona and Alessandria depots in the 1960s . Some locomotives were converted into snow plows after retirement and were still available in 2010. The last locomotive was retired in 1965. In recognition of the contributions to the electrification of the railways, two locomotives have been preserved; the E.550.025 in a railway museum in St. Louis and the E 550.030 in the Milan Museum of Technology

technical features

E.550 series machine converted into a non-powered snow plow

The E.550 was a single-frame locomotive with five coupled axles, the drive wheels of which were driven with rods by the traction motors located within the frame. The height compensation between the axles and the traction motors was carried out differently than with the patented Kando drive , namely with a triangular rod between the jackshafts and the crank pin of the central drive axle. To improve cornering, the central drive wheels were designed without a flange; the front and rear drive axles each had 20 mm of side play.

The locomotive had two speed levels; one for 25 km / h and one for 50 km / h. The three-phase current taken from the catenary was fed directly to the traction motors. The two speed levels were switched by connecting the traction motors in parallel or in series (Dahlander circuit). The liquid starter , which served as a so-called accelerator between the continuous speed levels, was used between the two speed levels . This unit worked as a fluid resistance, which enabled a steady acceleration when starting and when changing to a higher speed level. A 0.5 percent soda solution served as the resistance element, which reached an ever higher level when the locomotive started up and when accelerating, thereby ensuring a connection of steadily decreasing resistance between the electrode plates. The engine driver could set the acceleration on a separate lever next to the speed level. The driving switch for controlling the locomotive consisted of three levers that pneumatically controlled the locomotive. The first of them took over the control of the direction of travel, the second set the speed level and the third the work of the fluid resistance. If the train driver wanted to start the locomotive or change to a higher speed, he put the third lever in its starting position. Then he set the appropriate driving speed with the second lever and then again the third lever for resistance . Once the set speed was reached, the resistor was automatically short-circuited pneumatically. The same procedure was necessary for electric braking. Since the soda solution warmed up when accelerating, the locomotive had to refill water for the resistors when upgrading in the depot and from time to time. As a result, they could only work effectively in the speed levels.

See also

literature

  • Renzo Pocaterra: Locomotives . Kaiser, Klagenfurt 2006, ISBN 3-7043-1367-X .
  • Joachim von Rohr: Ligurian three-phase summer 1963. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-469-4 .
  • Wolfgang Messerschmidt: History of the Italian electric and diesel locomotives Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1969,

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim von Rohr: Ligurischer Drehromsommer 1963. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-469-4 , p. 26.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Messerschmidt: History of Italian electric and diesel locomotives Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1969, p 34th
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Messerschmidt: History of Italian electric and diesel locomotives Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1969, p 34th
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Messerschmidt: History of the Italian Electric and Diesel Locomotives Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1969, p. 32.