SBB Re 8/12 501-502

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SBB Re 8/12 501-502
Numbering: 501-502
Number: 2
Manufacturer: SLM , BBC , MFO , SAAS
Year of construction (s): 1937-1938
Retirement: 1968
Axis formula : Bo'Bo '+ 2'2' + Bo'Bo '
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length: 68,100 mm
Height: 4,280 mm
Friction mass: 90.0 t
Top speed: 150 km / h
Hourly output : 1,680 kW
Continuous output : 1,420 kW
Starting tractive effort: 84.4 kN
Wheel diameter: 900 mm
Power system : 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC
Power transmission: Overhead line
Nickname: Tatzelwurm
The Re 8/12 501 light multiple unit was badly damaged by fire on August 14, 1939

The express multiple units 1031 and 1041 were two train compositions that were based on the technology of the red arrows of the SBB and were intended as an alternative to the locomotive-hauled light express trains for high-quality express train service between the cities in the Swiss plateau . They consisted of two four-axle end cars powered on all axles and one non-powered four-axle intermediate car . The units originally named BC Le 8/12 501 and 502 were delivered in 1938 as Re 8/12 501 and 502 .

prehistory

The one-piece red arrows met with a great response in the relevant media. However, this mainly related to the satisfaction of the traveling public; The four-axle single drivers were only suitable to a limited extent for use in scheduled operation because of their limited space. Because of the economic boom that began in the second half of the 1930s, the demand for these railcars in public transport was high.

The customers on the connections between the big cities in the Central Plateau could only be won with fast and comfortable connections. New vehicles with sufficient capacity were needed for these connections . There were basically two options for this:

  • Light wagons with sufficient capacity, comfortable equipment and good running properties. Existing traction vehicles or new developments should be used as traction vehicles .
  • Multi-part, indivisible express multiple units .

The first way led to the development of the light steel car (SBB) . As but only the specially adapted for these applications locomotives of the type Ae 3/6 I 110 were available and the railcars RFe 4/4 proven wrong development for this operation, it came only with the use of locomotives Re 4/4 I in 1946 to success.

But the Swiss Federal Railways also took the second route. In 1936, two type BCLe 8/12 express railcars were ordered from the industry. These were to be given road numbers 501 and 502.

Specification book

The specification was formulated relatively openly. A multiple unit with 30 second- class seats and 168 third-class seats as well as 24 so-called “emergency and auxiliary seats” in the boarding areas was required. A luggage compartment was also required.

Ordering and project planning

The contract was awarded to the following companies:

Installation

The BCLe 8/12 502 was put into operation on October 8, 1937 as Re 8/12 502. The BCLe 8/12 501 followed on February 17, 1938 as Re 8/12 501.

technology

The mechanical part

landing gear

The design of the red arrows CLe 2/4 203-207 was used for the bogies . Features of this construction were:

A maximum axle load of 14 t was prescribed for faster cornering . In order to maintain this axle load on the two driven, heavier, inner parts of the three-part multiple unit, a pneumatically controlled compensation device was available. This transferred part of the load of the heavy inner sides of the end car to the box of the non-powered intermediate car.

Traction transmission

The transmission of the tensile and impact forces from the bogies to the car body took place via the pivot pins. Since the two multiple units were intended as single drivers, there were no standard devices for the transmission of tensile and compressive forces. The trains had auxiliary buffers and covered auxiliary couplings for any necessary towing operations .

drive

At a top speed of 150 km / h with a wheel diameter of only 900 mm, the drives presented a particular challenge during development. A pawl bearing drive was out of the question because of the high, unsprung mass on the wheelset.

A single-axle drive with complete decoupling of the mass of the traction motor from the wheelset had already been successfully installed in the Rote Pfeil CLe 2/4 202 . Nothing stood in the way of further use of such a drive.

The traction motors were permanently installed in the bogie. The large gearwheel , which was seated on a hollow shaft that enclosed the wheelset shaft, was driven via the pinion on the motor shaft. The gear drive with the hollow shaft was firmly screwed to the traction motor and decoupled from the wheelset shaft. The drive force was transmitted from the hollow shaft to the drive gear set by means of spring cup drives arranged on one side . The train 501 was powered by MFO . Train 502 received one from SAAS . This had been tested in Ae 3/5 10204 since 1935 .

Braking system

The two multiple units were technically designed for 150 km / h. However, this speed could not be used in everyday operation. Some pre-signal distances were too short for 125 km / h. The Deutsche Reichsbahn has been using the magnetic rail brake with great success since 1930 . Because the bogie frames were cranked down, there was no space between the frame and the rails to install such a construction.

Therefore, a solution had to be found that, on the one hand, did not result in excessive wear and tear in normal operation. On the other hand, it had to be ensured that maximum utilization of the wheel / rail adhesion was guaranteed.

Each wheel of the multiple unit had brake pads on both sides that could be triggered by the driver's brake valve . The braking effect was supported by a very powerful, 20-stage electrical resistance brake .

At high speeds only the electric brake was normally used. When levels 11-20 of the electric brake were used, the brake cylinders of the intermediate car were subjected to a cylinder pressure of 2.5 bar via an electropneumatic control  .

To generate shorter braking distances, as was necessary when driving in fog, for example, a separate switch made it possible to apply a braking pressure of 6 bar to the pneumatic brake of the intermediate vehicle in braking levels 1-11. At the same time, the sand spreading on the foremost axle of the intermediate car was triggered automatically. At lower speeds or higher electrical braking levels, the mechanical braking pressure was limited to the above-mentioned 2.5 bar.

In the event of an emergency braking, an emergency brake was triggered on all wheelsets of the multiple unit. An electric valve in closed circuit , which was connected directly to the auxiliary air reservoirs, is acted upon, the brake cylinder with 6 bar. The electric brake was not activated at all. If it was already active before the emergency braking was initiated, it could be switched off with a push button.

There were the following cases for emergency braking:

  • Triggering of the emergency brake by the driver or a traveler
  • Addressing the safety controller
  • Failure of the control current

The electrovalves were connected directly to the battery, as the emergency braking had to work even in the event of a power failure.

There was a comprehensive set of rules for triggering the brakes on these railcars. However, this could not replace the situational decision of the driver.

Each car had a handbrake. This acted on a bogie of the respective wagon.

Car body

All car bodies consisted of self-supporting, welded steel structures. Aluminum was used for the upper roof skin of the double roof, the aprons, equipment boxes and the doors. The driver's cabs were the same as those of the little red arrows . In contrast to these, however , the engine driver was separated from the passengers by apparatus boxes and a glass wall. To improve the boarding conditions for passengers - at that time many SBB train stations and stops had platforms at rail level or even below them - the floor of the car between the bogies was placed as low as possible. However, this construction meant that stairs had to be built in towards the bogie area, as it was not possible to lower the floor of the car there. This fact also had to be followed by the interior design, which made it sometimes seem strange for the time. This fact was also recognizable from the outside by the window division and height.

The seat layout of these express multiple units was interesting:

  • The classic face-to-face arrangement was chosen in the low-lying middle area of ​​the two railcars and the intermediate car. The two-class compartment of the intermediate car was designed differently for the two multiple units: Train 501 had four transverse seats, and train 502 only three.
  • The seats in the two outer end compartments of the railcars faced the driver's cabs.
  • The two inner ends of the railcars consisted of an eight-seater passenger compartment and an apparatus room.
  • In the intermediate car there was a luggage compartment at one end. At the other end there was a passenger compartment with face-to-face seating.

In the third class, the seats had leather upholstery . Linoleum was laid on the floor . The wall paneling consisted of artificial leather (below) and birch wood (above). The second class seat covers consisted of moquette upholstery . These were plush carpets laid. The wall paneling was made of polished walnut wood .

The luggage racks were fastened across in third class. In the second class the arrangement was longitudinal.

The side doors could be opened and closed electropneumatically by the engine driver via a control switch. Along with the opening and closing process, kicks were also extended or retracted.

The electrical part

Main circuit

A pantograph was mounted on the inside of the roof of both railcars . These were connected by a high-voltage line via the intermediate car. Each railcar had two high-voltage fuses , one in service and the other as a reserve. A compressed air quick switch was attached to each railcar for testing purposes. The multiple unit 501 was designed by MFO, the train 502 by the BBC.

The transformers were placed in the compartments under the pantographs . These were so-called sliding transformers that had been supplied by the BBC. In contrast to conventional railway transformers, the transformer's secondary winding was bare. It was tapped continuously by contact roles. The contact rollers were moved by an electric servomotor. It was controlled via a polarized relay by turning the control handwheel in the driver's cab . This handwheel could be rotated approximately 170 ° to the right for driving. Every angle of the wheel in relation to the zero position corresponded to a clearly defined voltage that was fed to the traction motors. The driver could determine the activation of the drive motor voltage himself. The decisive factor was the amperage on the traction motors.

Downshifting was also stepless. If a special position was selected at the end of the handwheel activation, the maximum activation through all stages took place in 20 seconds. If the handwheel was immediately turned back all the way to the zero position, downshifting also took place in 20 seconds.

The drive motors were self-ventilated. These were connected in parallel when driving and in series for each bogie when braking electrically . At the beginning of the electric brake, the drive motors were briefly energized by the battery . The traction motors then worked as self-exciting generators that gave their electrical energy to the braking resistors located in the intermediate roof.

Auxiliaries

The following auxiliary services with 220 volts alternating current were present in each of the two railcars:

In the intermediate car

In the summer the fans of the warm air heating could be used for the additional ventilation .

Electric brake

The electrical braking was done by turning the handwheel to the left, whereby 20 braking levels could be selected. After using the electric brake - e.g. B. after a prescribed speed reduction according to the book timetable or a temporary slow speed point  - to maintain the speed, the speed step switch was automatically moved to the step that corresponded to the current speed. It was controlled by a so-called encoder dynamo , which was attached to a drive axle.

Multiple controls

The two railcars were designed as single drivers. They could neither with each other nor with other vehicles such as B. Control car can be coupled. For this reason, they did not have multiple controls .

Changes and modifications

Since the two railcars had an eventful past, this chapter does not separate changes in the mechanical and electrical parts, as these were often carried out together.

Renaming

Like other SBB railcars from the early years, these multiple units were also affected by numerous renaming. These new light railcars for high speeds could not be recorded with the existing designation scheme. In addition, there was the elimination of the third car class in the 1950s and the renaming of luggage wagons / luggage compartments from "F" to "D".

Specific to the two multiple units were redesigns that were a series of conversions (wheel arrangement). In addition, the company numbers had to be adjusted with the appearance of the RFe 4/4 and Re 4 / 4I luggage railcars . At a later point in time, the operating numbers for railcars were set in the range from 1000.

The renaming for the two railcars is listed below:

Railcar 1031:

1936 (order) BC Le 8/12 501
1938 (adopted as) Re 8/12 501
1941 Re 4/8 311
1947 RBCFe 4/8 671
1956 RABFe 4/8 671
1959 RABFe 4/8 1031

Railcar 1041

1936 (order) BC Le 8/12 502
1937 (adopted as) Re 8/12 502
1945 RBCFe 8/12 502
1948 RBCFe 8/12 691
1956 RABFe 8/12 691
1958 RABFe 8/12 1041
1964 RABDe 8/16 1041

Changes and modifications

Burned-out passenger compartment and driver's cab II of the Re 8/12 501

In the early morning of August 14, 1939, railcar 501 caught fire in the Rorschach depot - one and a half years after it was put into operation . Since the train could not be driven outside, it suffered severe damage. These were so heavy with one end car that only a two-car train could be rebuilt with reasonable effort. A newly built driver's cab was therefore added to the middle car on the side of the small passenger compartment. The bogies could no longer be used and were therefore rebuilt using the same design. The motor bogies were installed under the driver's cabs, so that two identical railcar parts with the axle arrangement 2/4 were created. The following were left in railcar I:

  • Pantograph
  • Roof protection
  • Transformer with control

The gear ratio has been changed from 1: 2.64 to 1: 3.17. The top speed changed from 150 km / h to 125 km / h. This increased the speed of the motors and therefore increased their own ventilation. This made it possible to use the railcar on steeper routes. The renovation was carried out by the main workshop in Zurich . Due to the increasing scarcity of materials, the train could not be put back into operation until September 1941. The start-up and acceleration at the limit of the wheel / rail adhesion that was possible with the sliding transformer was impressive. The high susceptibility to failure developed into a costly problem during operation. Therefore, in 1953, a conventional transformer with an SAAS hopper control was installed. The direct-acting air brake with electrically controlled emergency brake was replaced by an automatic R-brake type Oerlikon with driver's brake valves FV3 and pneumatically controlled emergency brake. So that the travelers could always sit in the direction of travel, the old seating was replaced by seats with adjustable backrests in the third class, which was raised to second class. Instead of the pre-excitation of the electric brake from the battery, a pre-excitation from the rectifier was installed in 1959. In the drives, the plungers in the spring assemblies have been replaced by rubber elements. During these workshop visits, the systems shown below were also installed at the same time:

The following changes were made to railcar 691 (originally 502).

1954:

  • Installation of transformers with taps and SAAS hopping control
  • Change of resistance brake

1958:

  • Improvement of the drives
  • Installation of the Oerlikon automatic R brake
  • Modernization of the interior

A fire on August 13, 1961 in Pfungen caused considerable damage, particularly on railcar 1 of multiple unit 1041. Because of the upcoming national exhibition EXPO64 , which required the use of all existing rolling stock - even old two- and three-axle passenger coaches  - consideration was given to rebuilding this train. The main workshop in Zurich was ultimately commissioned to plan the reconstruction with the least possible effort. The two former, extremely light wagons, the Ap4ü and B4ü, were to be installed as intermediate wagons. The two railcars were to be equipped with servo control controllers and multiple controls analogous to the converted Be 4/6 railcars . The installation of pulling and pushing devices should be checked in order to be able to carry passenger cars if necessary. It was supposed to be put back into operation in spring 1964. In the autumn of 1962 the studies were pursued in a different direction. The reason for this was the decommissioning of the RABFe 4/8 1031. The drive gears of this railcar were badly torn. The existing train parts should now be combined into a four-part train. The compilation was carried out as follows:

Railcar 1: 1031/1
Intermediate car 2: 1031/2, rotated 180 °
Intermediate car 3: 1041/2
Railcar 4: 1041/3

As a result of the rotation of the intermediate car 2, the two luggage compartments were lying next to each other in the middle of the train. The railcar 1041/1, which was badly damaged by the fire, was broken off. The parts of train 1031 had to be rebuilt on a large scale again. The motor bogies were placed under the driver's cabs again. Car 1031/2 was converted into an intermediate car without a drive. The driver's cab therefore had to be replaced by a normal part of the car. The transmission ratio of the former 1031/1 railcar was changed back to 1: 2.64. The maximum speed of the whole train was now 150 km / h again. As the SBB were about to purchase suburban multiple units ( RABDe 12/12 ), they were interested in testing an electropneumatic brake . The Oerlikon company had developed such a system. This system was a direct acting brake. The continuous feed line applied compressed air to the brake cylinders when braking. When the brakes were released, the air escaped into the open. As a single driver, the railcar was a very good test vehicle. A combination of the electro-pneumatic brake with the resistance brake was not used. In the event of a malfunction, the R brake that was left on the train could be used. In normal operation this was only used for emergency braking.

Operational use

On 10 December 1942, the Re 502 8/12 met with a Ae 4/7 together

The Re 8/12 502 train was put into operation on October 8, 1937. On December 1, 1937, an extensive press trip St. Gallen - Genève - Lausanne - Basel - Zurich - Lausanne was carried out.

The maximum operational speed of 150 km / h meant that scanning drives could be carried out at higher speeds during the test. These trips were carried out on selected routes with the assurance of several free block routes . The 200 km / h mark was almost reached.

The commissioning of the second Re 8/12 train did not take place until February 17, 1938. This enabled changes and reworking that resulted from the trial operation of train 502 to be carried out.

When the timetable was changed in May 1938, it was planned to use the two multiple units in city express train services for train pairs 5/6 and 27/24 Genève - Zurich - Genève. In addition, the trains were to take over the new pair of express trains 210/215 Basel - Lausanne - Basel. This failed because there was not enough space on trains 6 and 24 Zurich - Genève. For train 210, the PTT requested that a mail car be carried. For the same train, there was also a request for food.

Therefore, an express train circuit was set up for one train. This comprised the following routes (train number): Rorschach - Bern (10) - Biel (435) - Bern (438) - Basel (315) - Bern (320) - Rorschach (21). With the other train regular company rides are Bodensee - Ticino performed.

The multiple units quickly became very popular with the public. Therefore, Sunday evening train 21 and train 10 on Monday morning had to be run as conventional locomotive hauled trains again.

The experience from this first phase of operation meant that the SBB General Management considered the trains to be “only suitable to a limited extent” for scheduled traffic. It therefore recommended to the Board of Directors not to procure any further vehicles of this type.

After the fire in the Rorschach depot mentioned above, train 501 came back into operation as the Re 4/8 311 two-car train in September 1941 and was assigned to the Lausanne depot. It was now used in the Jura , especially on the Neuchâtel - Les Verrières route . This had been electrified since November 22, 1942.

In May 1945 the daily mileage of the train was 522 km. This led over the routes Lausanne - Neuchâtel - Les Verrières - Bern - Neuchâtel - Lausanne.

In 1947 only passenger trains were run on the Lausanne - Neuchâtel - Les Verrières route. The daily output fell to 355 km.

In 1948, a pair of Lausanne- Vallorbe and Neuchâtel- Travers - Buttes ( RVT ) passenger trains were added. The daily output increased to 420 km. However, these ceased to exist two years later.

In 1956 the SNCF line Les Verrières - Pontarlier was electrified with 15,000  V 16  Hz . The RABFe 4/8 671 was then also to be found on this route.

In the last year of operation (1961/1962), the RABFe 4/8 ran passenger trains on the Lausanne - Neuchâtel - Pontarlier route Monday to Friday. The daily mileage was 369 km. On Saturday the tour of a small red arrow was conducted. On Sundays he was occasionally used for social intercourse.

As mentioned above, the train was parked in September 1962, but remained as part of the four-part train 1041 for six years.

The Re 8/12 502 was mainly used in public transport from 1939, as it was also unsuitable for high-quality scheduled transport due to the limited seating capacity. It was assigned to the Rorschach depot until 1946, and then to the Lausanne depot.

The daily performance dropped to a meager 202 km in 1951/1952. These included the express train 961 Lausanne - Lyss and the passenger train 1574 Lyss - Lausanne. In 1952 it was transferred to the Winterthur depot . The train carried two pairs of express trains to Basel and a pair of passenger trains to Etzwilen (540 km per day).

As mentioned above, the train caught fire on August 13, 1961. The RABDe 8/16, assembled from parts of the two trains, was assigned to the Winterthur depot. Its daily circuit with a daily mileage of over 600 km began at 5 a.m. and passed through the following locations (train number): Stein - Säckingen - Basel (1406) - Winterthur (915) - Etzwilen (4031) - Winterthur (4034) - Basel ( 926) - Stein (1453) - Basel (1456) - Winterthur (935) - Basel (938) - Stein (1493). The orbit ended at 11:30 p.m.

This circulation lasted until about the end of 1967, when the train with some defective traction motors was brought to the main workshop in Zurich. Other components also caused more and more interference. This concerned the automatic doors in particular, as the train was always parked outdoors, even in winter. The repair and refurbishment work would have meant an effort that was too high for a "loner" who was also only able to be used to a limited extent.

The train was taken out of service in June 1968. Parts that could be used further were removed by the main workshop in Zurich. The train was then transferred to the main workshop in Chur, which took care of the demolition.

Note on naming convention

The two railcars described were renamed and rebuilt several times. The title used in this article uses the designation at the time of commissioning.

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