FS E.554

FS E.554
Numbering:	E. 554.001-183
Number:	183
Manufacturer:	various
Year of construction (s):	1928-1930
Retirement:	1976
Axis formula :	E.
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length over buffers:	10,800 mm
Height:	3,740 mm
Width:	3,020 mm
Total wheelbase:	6,600 mm
Service mass:	77 t
Friction mass:	77 t
Top speed:	50 km / h
Hourly output :	2,000 kW
Continuous output :	1,750 kW
Starting tractive effort:	140 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:	Rod drive type Bianchi with 2 electric motors located deep in the frame
Brake:	Handbrake ; air brake
Particularities:	with boiler

The E.554 series was an electric locomotive series of the Italian state railway Ferrovie dello Stato . It was used on the Northern Italian three-phase network, especially in freight train service, and was the last electric locomotive built with three-phase drive in the Northern Italian three-phase network .

history

The locomotive was the largest and most modern of the freight train electric locomotives of the northern Italian three-phase network . If the FS E.550 was primarily designed to operate the Turin – Genoa railway with the crossing of the Giovipass , the E.554 was used as a locomotive for the Brenner Railway and all other mountain lines. On these they were used in both freight and passenger train services, where they replaced the older FS E.550 and FS E.551 locomotives . The locomotives were equipped with a steam boiler for passenger train service.

In 1934, the outer coupling rods were removed in the Bolzano depot to operate the winding route Bolzano-Merano to improve the arching . As a result of this conversion, the locomotives were given the axle order 1'C1 'and the designation E.354 with the serial numbers E.354.001 to E.354.010 . The locomotives were then able to drive trains at a maximum speed of 50 km / h on this winding route. This conversion was reversed in 1943, as greater tractive forces had to be driven on the Brenner Railway during the Second World War .

The locomotives were mostly used in double traction for hauling heavy freight trains or for pre-tensioning and pushing services , and in this combination formed the hauling of the trains on the mountain railways until the end of operation with three-phase current . After the end of operation on the Brenner Railway and the Turin – Genoa railway line , they were primarily stationed in Savona and Genoa , where they formed the covering of heavy freight and passenger trains on the mountainous routes. After these lines were also converted to direct current , the locomotives between Alessandria and San Giuseppe di Cairo found their last field of activity and served there until the end of three-phase operation in 1976.

Two locomotives in the series have been preserved; the E.554.078 is in the Museo Europeo dei Trasporti Ogliari, and the E.554.174 is an exhibition object on the Bombardier Transportation site in Vado Ligure (the former Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri plant ).

technical features

Side view of the locomotive E.554.078 in the vehicle museum in Ranco

Technically speaking, the locomotives are similar to the predecessor models FS E.550 and FS E.551 . Externally, the locomotives differed in their greater length, the greater height of the front end with the additional superstructures for the heating, the smooth front of the driver's and engine room and the other drive.

Mechanical part

Compared to the predecessor models FS E.550 and FS E.551 , the drive motors have been moved further up, and the drive on the drive axles has been implemented by the Bianchi joint drive . The engines were enclosed by the driver's cab mounted on the frame, which housed the compressors as well as the drive engines. In addition to the two pantographs , the roof also contained the air tanks for the pneumatic brake . The liquid starter, the boiler, the main switch and other equipment were housed in the front structures, i.e. all equipment that could endanger the engine driver.

In terms of the pneumatic brake , the locomotive was equipped with the indirect brake for the train and the direct-acting compressed air brake as a locomotive brake. Most of the compressed air generation was done by an axle compressor mechanically driven by the linkage. In addition, the locomotives also had an electrically driven compressor with a low output for generating compressed air when the vehicle was stationary.

Electrical part

The electrical part of the locomotives was formed by the traction motors and the liquid starter as well as some auxiliary gears. The locomotive had two speed levels in the values of 25 km / h and 50 km / h. In the two speed levels, the three-phase current taken over by the contact line was transferred to the drive motors with the optimal power factor. At 25 km / h the two motors worked in series at 50 km / in parallel . The liquid starter, which served as a so-called accelerator between the continuous speed levels, was used between the two speed levels and when starting up . The operation of the liquid filler and the control of the locomotive happened as with the E 550 .

The liquid starter operated with pneumatic control, as did the main switch, which was stored in oil. This was still installed in the driver's cab on the predecessor machines FS E.550 and FS E.551 . After fatal accidents occurred as a result of overvoltages when the main switch exploded as a result of the ejected oil, the E.554 series locomotives were given an arrangement on a porch with a protective cabinet. The locomotives also had a boiler for heating the car.

Facility for double traction

A study on the use of the Comando multiplo began in 1957 at the will of the director of FS Severo Rissone , as the locomotives on the mountain routes mostly worked in double traction . Initially there were difficulties with the control of the locomotives in the area between the speed steps and when starting. The locomotives' liquid starters were equipped with various forms of pneumatic control, and some with mechanical control.

Therefore, initially there were various Comando multiplo systems based on the Bolzano and Hybrid systems , in which between 1958 and 1959 fixed pairs of a total of 30 locomotives were formed, which harmonized in the equipment and had approximately the same wheel diameter. The improvement came only in the years 1959 to 1962 with the Ligure system , in which the control of unrelated locomotives could also be implemented.

The Ligure system

Three locomotives from the Bolzano system and six locomotives from the Hybrid system were retrofitted with the Ligure system . Two locomotives that did not yet have a Comando multiplo facility were also retrofitted. In addition, Comando multiplo controls received two FS E.551 , two FS E.333 , four FS E.431 and one FS E.432 . It can be said that this facility worked reliably after improvements in the control of the locomotives had previously taken place. The locomotives with the Comando multiplo system Ligure were characterized by the following main features:

all locomotives were equipped with a liquid starter with pneumatic control,
the machines have the option of fast regulation of all locomotives, so the transition from locomotive to locomotive during the journey must be guaranteed,
the locomotives were equipped with a uniform control system
the locomotives must have the same wheel diameter,
the connection is only made via a connection cable, without any additional equipment required.

literature

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

Commons : FS E.554 - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Joachim von Rohr: Ligurischer Drehromsommer 1963. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-469-4 , p. 27.
↑ Website of the museum ( Memento of the original dated November 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ Joachim von Rohr: Ligurischer Drehromsommer 1963. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-469-4 , p. 29.
↑ Mascherpa, Il comando multiplo delle locomotive trifasi, pages 6167–6168.

[1] Joachim von Rohr: Ligurischer Drehromsommer 1963. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-469-4 , p. 27.

[2] Website of the museum ( Memento of the original dated November 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2

[3] Joachim von Rohr: Ligurischer Drehromsommer 1963. EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-88255-469-4 , p. 29.

[4] Mascherpa, Il comando multiplo delle locomotive trifasi, pages 6167–6168.