European Railroad Discussion > French Locomotive Question

Hello all,

We just returned from a whirlwind tour of Europe which was fantastic. One question I had; what is the model/type of locomotive in the attached photo? It seemed fairly common at Gare Du Nord mixed amongst the TGVs and Thallys, and I quite like the looks of it. Also, does any model manufacturer make one of these in HO scale?

Thanks!

Nick S.

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BB15000 class -- the prefix digit indicates the nominal profit center owning the locomotive; an internet search using BB15000 will explain "all". Numerous models have been made in HO, some junky, some quite good -- I'd suggest Roco.

Best, SZ

Isn't this cool lookin! Great find, especially at Gare du Nord (unless they've changed their traffic patterns). SNCF has numerous color and technical variants of this "shark nosed electric". Their future is in jeopardy, so some are left just silver, for the moment, instead of getting a new livery.

Since you already spotted two cool variants to your picture, here is a third color scheme. @ the same station.

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Steinzeit Wrote:
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> BB15000 class -- the prefix digit indicates the
> nominal profit center owning the locomotive; an
> internet search using BB15000 will explain "all".
> Numerous models have been made in HO, some junky,
> some quite good -- I'd suggest Roco.
>
> Best, SZ


Some more info - this type is part of a family of locos with a similar design. The type on the photo (BB15000) is the AC electric. There is a DC version (BB7200), and a dual-voltage version (BB22000....looks very similar to the DC version, but it's two Faivley-type pantos are "pointed" in the same direction).

The Roco model is fairly decent (I have one), but also look for ones produced by a company called Acme Models (of Italy).

This one of the BB7200 1.5kV DC versions, on a regional train via the classic PLM mainline from Paris Gare du Lyon to Dijon

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chs7-321 Wrote:
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>
> Some more info - this type is part of a family of
> locos with a similar design. The type on the
> photo (BB15000) is the AC electric. There is a DC
> version (BB7200), and a dual-voltage version
> (BB22000....looks very similar to the DC version,
> but it's two Faivley-type pantos are "pointed" in
> the same direction).

The Multi-system version of this locomotive is the Class BB 22200. The Class unit of the multi-system version of a French electric locomotive is always numbered as the sum of the Class locomotive of the AC version plus the Class locomotive of the DC version. Hence;

BB15000 + BB7200 = BB22200.

Another one of your famous panning pictures! Great work Nick!

86235 Wrote:
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> This one of the BB7200 1.5kV DC versions, on a
> regional train via the classic PLM mainline from
> Paris Gare du Lyon to Dijon

That's ingeniously noticed SOO! I wonder what else there will be to find out on somehow complex French classifications...

SOO6617 Wrote:
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> The Class unit of the multi-system
> version of a French electric locomotive is always
> numbered as the sum of the Class locomotive of the
> AC version plus the Class locomotive of the DC
> version. Hence;
>
> BB15000 + BB7200 = BB22200.

I think ALSTOM built the prototypes.