Bugatti railcar
The Bugatti railcars were from automobile manufacturers Bugatti built railcars , from 1933 to 1958 in several variants in rail transport in France were used. The main buyers were the Chemins de fer de l'État (ETAT), some copies also went to the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) and the Réseau ferroviaire d'Alsace-Lorraine (AL). All these companies went into 1938 in the French state railways SNCF ; there a series was designated as XB 1000.
technology
In order to recycle the pre-produced engines for the Bugatti Royale , Ettore Bugatti accepted an order from the French state railway ETAT in 1932 - a forerunner of today's SNCF - and designed a railcar, officially called Wagon Rapide or WR for short by Bugatti . In just nine months, the company developed a vehicle that borrowed various technical features from automobile construction.
The railcar was powered by eight-cylinder in-line gasoline engines with an overhead camshaft and a displacement of 12,750 cm³. The motors of two were treated Zenith - carburetors that could only be regulated in three stages. The engines also had dual ignition and dry sump lubrication . The power of the engines for the railcars was throttled to 147 kW (200 hp) at 2,000 rpm. They were operated with a mixture of gasoline, benzene and alcohol.
The engines were arranged differently in the various models. In the Présidentielle model , the four engines stood side by side in the middle of the railcar at right angles to the direction of travel. Two motors each were mechanically linked to one another and powered the two middle axles of a four-axle bogie via reversing gear , hydraulic coupling and cardan shaft.
The WL models were equipped with only two engines, which stood lengthways on one side in the middle of the vehicle. Using a hydraulic clutch and a cardan shaft, they only drove the axle that was closest to the center of the car. A reversing gear was mounted directly on the driven axle.
The three-part articulated triple trains were again equipped with four engines, which were also installed lengthways in the middle of the middle railcar; however, two motors in a row on each side of the car. The two front motors each drove one axle of the front bogie, the right motor in the direction of travel the rearmost, the left motor the second axle. The two rear motors drove two of the rear axles in mirror image. As the specific output of the Triple was lower than that of the other versions, an electromagnetically switched reduction gear from the Cotal brand transmitted the power for each cardan shaft. Here, too, a reversing gear was mounted directly on each driven axle.
The railcar was braked with drum brakes . These brakes were very effective but wore out quickly. The wheels were equipped with a layer of rubber between the wheel and the tire . Two axles were sprung against the bogie with a leaf spring package.
The body was light - the total weight was only 35 t - and designed to be aerodynamic; the driver's cab was above the engine compartment in the middle of the train. The driver looked over the roof of the railcar, which, especially with the later articulated railcars, resulted in a severely restricted view directly in front of the vehicle.
The vehicle was completed in 1933. In the first test drives it reached 172 km / h, making it one of the first modern high-speed vehicles.
history
business
This first model with 48 seats was put into service by ETAT in May 1933 and served the Paris - Deauville route at an average speed of 116 km / h. On July 30, 1933, President Albert Lebrun traveled by railcar to the inauguration of the new port in Cherbourg . Since then, this type of vehicle has been called Présidentiel .
In February, July and October 1933 three more vehicles were delivered to ETAT and five more were ordered. On October 24, 1934, a railcar between Le Mans and Connerré reached a top speed of 192 km / h.
The railcars have now also been used on the route network of the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) and the Réseau ferroviaire d'Alsace-Lorraine (AL). From 1938, all railcars were owned by the newly founded SNCF.
The railcars were serviced from 1933 to 1936 in the Bois Colombes electrique depot north-west of Paris, and from 1936 in the newly built Batignolles-Remblais depot in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. In 1937, ETAT opened two further depots for the railcars in Versailles-Matelot and La Rochelle . During the Second World War, the railcars were parked, only one Présidentiel was destroyed.
The articulated multiple units were decommissioned in 1952, the other models in 1958. The fuel consumption was no longer up to date and the reliability had suffered severely in the last few years of operation.
Only the model XB 1008 of the SNCF (originally ZZy 24408 of the ETAT) has been preserved and is now exhibited in the Cité du Train railway museum in Mulhouse . This vehicle was used by the SNCF as a signal test vehicle until 1970, restored in 1980 and returned to its original condition.
Model variants
From 1934 the railcars were equipped with eight instead of four doors and a towing device, which made it possible to pull sidecars with 62 seats. From an order for a further twelve railcars, ETAT had three converted into trailers, the engine compartment of which was also equipped with seats.
In 1935 the model Standard or Wagon Léger (WL) appeared , which was equipped with only two engines and 36 seats; the ETAT had criticized the exorbitant gasoline consumption of the four-engine version. The Bugatti Royale's engine is said to have consumed 40 liters per 100 km. These railcars could be coupled in pairs, but could not pull other cars.
Also in 1935 the twin-engine railcar was extended from 19.30 m to 21 m (model Allongé ); the number of seats was increased to 44 or 52. Ten of this model were built.
In 1936 the Allongé was lengthened to 25.38 m ( Surallongé model ) and equipped with 73 seats. 15 of this type of vehicle were built.
In 1936 and '37 seven three-part articulated trains were built with a length of 60 m, each offering space for 144 passengers. For safety reasons, driver's cabs for shunting trips were built into these trains at both ends. Three two-part articulated trains were built for the PLM. All articulated trains were equipped with two-speed transmissions from Cotal, which made starting easier.
In 1937, ETAT ordered two sidecars with 57 seats each.
After 1945 all standard were converted to sidecars.
A total of 88 railcars and five sidecars were produced:
- 9 WR one-piece President for the ETAT,
- 3 WR in two parts for the PLM,
- 7 WR in three parts (2 ETAT, 2 AL and 3 SNCF),
- 13 WL short (5 ETAT, 2 AL and 6 PLM),
- 28 WL Allongés (18 PLM and 10 ETAT),
- 28 WL Surallongés (15 ETAT, 1 AL, 10 PLM and 2 SNCF),
- 5 sidecars for one-piece ETAT WR.
literature
- Michael Dörflinger: The big book of locomotives: Illustrated history of technology with the best models in the world. 1st edition. Verlag Naumann & Goebel, 2012, ISBN 978-3-625-13350-6 .
