European Railroad Discussion > Krauss-Maffei's First 6-Axle Diesel-Hydraulic

Some time ago, I found some pictures of the first 6-axle diesel-hydraulic locomotive built by Krauss-Maffei my father took back in 1957 and thought some of you might be interested in them.

After the famous 4-axle V200 of the DB, also designed by Krauss-Maffei was built in larger numbers, the former State Railroad of Yugoslavia (JZ) approached KM with the wish to purchase some high-power diesel-hydraulic locomotives as well, but required a lower axle-load of 16 metric tons maximum (the V200 had an axle load of 20 tons). KM built three prototype locomotives for JZ and those units were the first 6-axle diesel-hydraulic locomotives KM built, and they already showed all the features later KM designs would have as well. Off-springs of these units were the three ML 2700 C´C´ for the Turkish railways and the in total 21 ML 4000 C´C´ for the DRG&W and Southern Pacific in the USA, as well as the 16 ML 4000 C´C´units for the CVRD in Brazil. All of them shared the same design principle, power-train design and trucks (with identical axle spacing!) as used in the Yugoslavian units, so call the ML 2200 C´C´ the grandfather of the more famous US locomotives. Originally, JZ planned to obtain 50 units more, but no agreement was reached on financing those them, so only these three units and a single KM demonstrator, which later became the V300 of the DB, have been built.

Picture 1 shows the second unit still in primer for the JZ on April 30, 1957 with a test train in front of the KM plant in Munich Allach, ready to be tested by the DB (the first unit was on exhibition at the Hannover fair in 1957, so the second units was used for testing).

Picture 2 shows the second unit in what I believe is Mittenwald along the Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Innsbruck line the same day.

Picture 3 shows the first unit in the „final outfit“ at the KM site (KM Werkfoto).

Later on, the unit was also tested at the famous "Semmering", which was also used as a test track in 1961 for the prototypes of the ML 4000 C´C´ for the SP.

Enjoy, E111

PS: Please ignore the bad image quality, but my father used a small camera where the negative was only 24mm by 24mm and the film has a very heavy grain.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/10 02:11 by E111.

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Neat! That paint job really suited 'em well and gee, I wonder if a certain industrial designer didn't borrow some elements from these for GE's Genesis carbody. I assume 2200 referred to horsepower. Thanks for sharing! Kurt.

1372 Wrote:
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> I assume 2200 referred to horsepower.

Correct! KM had a quite simple way to name its design: ML stands for "Motor-Lokomotive", the number for the UIC rated power and after that the axle arrangement. So ML 2200 C´C´ is a 2200 hp motor locomotive with six axles in two trucks, where all axles in a truck are coupled.

E111

One of Southern Pacific's Krauss-Maffei Diesel-Hydraulic is being restore by the Pacific Locomotive Association in Sunol, California. Information can be found at http://sp9010.ncry.org/index.htm

Hi E111,
I believe pic 2 is on Semmering with the Südbahn-Hotel visible between the front window and the thick mast.

Erwin from Austria

Here's a photo we received from Otto Baumgartner, who was one of the KM representatives sent to America to accompany the USA ML4000 units.

Photo from 1959. showing Otto standing in front of the former ML2200, but now (at time of the photo) the KM ML3000 demonstrator. This locomotive was gaining the interest of the Southern Pacific railroad at the time, and its performance claims would lead directly to the purchase of the USA units.

Looking at this photo, with the beautiful finish and all the attention to detail, it's hard to imagine that only eight years later Otto would be photographed standing in Sacramento California atop a gondola full of scrapped ML4000 parts.

What a beautiful example of KM craftsmanship this is! Thanks to Otto B. and Franz W. for the permission to share the photo. From his home in Germany, Otto's been a generous supporter of the SP 9010 restoration project in Niles Canyon, California.

~ Bob Z.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/10 10:39 by Notch16.

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Here's the Lima version in HO scale, along with the Rivarossi USA Prototype and a Series SP unit scratchbuilt in 1969.

For more on ML4000 modeling in scale, visit the SP 9010 website at:

http://sp9010.ncry.org/models.htm

~ BZ

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The styling on those always reminded me of a cross between a Karmann Ghia and dirigible.

Dave

The similarities between the V200-V300 styling and the Volkswagen Type 2 are probably more than coincidental. The VW Transporter (Bulli, Splitty) preceded the locomotives with that prominent 'V' body crease, and the two-tone Samba and the first V200 were contemporaries. The Type 2 was a big signifier that economic recovery was well underway. Styling one to look like the other was probably intentional to some degree, at least in the sense that certain design idioms become the common language in a given period.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samba(1).jpg

Man, I wanna put a KM badge on this bus!!



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/10 20:02 by Notch16.

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spandfecerwin Wrote:
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> Hi E111,
> I believe pic 2 is on Semmering with the
> Südbahn-Hotel visible between the front window
> and the thick mast.

Not sure of that. My father noted the date: April 30, 1957 on the back of the contacts. This date matches the date in an article mentioning test runs from Munich to Garmisch and further to Mittenwald, back to Munich and on to Treuchtlingen. So Austria was not mentioned here, but I would not exclude it.

E111

re: Pic 4 -
Dual gauge?
...Lorenzo

567Chant Wrote:
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> re: Pic 4 -
> Dual gauge?
> ...Lorenzo

Nope. KM's test track was multi gauge. See this picture of RENFE's S250 001 at KM.

E111

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