European Railroad Discussion > Austria: Cargoserv Unusual 1216 (Taurus)

Looking at this 4 current Austrian class 1216 vehicle I noticed this one has an interesting apparatus on the roof. Since it appears this can not be seen in other pictures of Austrian 1216 locomotives, I wonder what is it? Most likely it would be a heavy set of Cargoserv specific irons to transmit current, but is it really that? 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/15 05:16 by McKey.

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It is common to all Taurus III (class 1216) locomotives. It stands out on the Cargoserv unit because of the color difference.

E111

Oh, must be the color then...

& thank you E111!

 

Suspect they are some form of bus bars? Chris uk

That is what it definitely looks like. Funny how different it looks in this color...

55002 Wrote:
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> Suspect they are some form of bus bars? Chris uk

E111 Wrote:
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> It is common to all Taurus III (class 1216)
> locomotives. It stands out on the Cargoserv unit
> because of the color difference.
>
> E111

I would agree, but I think "all"  -- or how one defines a 1216 ! -- might have to be qualified for a few exceptions:  It would appear that some or all of those which have only two pantographs, such as Cargoserve 1216 930 or the Arriva machines, have the "rod" rather than "buss bar" electrical connections.

Comment welcome !

With best regards, SZ

With best regards, SZ

Thank you for digging deeper into the subject, at least I had not noticed how many sided the design here is. A few pictures of various models and batches: 

First the ÖBB 1216s. Color really makes some difference!

 

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Two 1116s and a 1016. Not two are alike on top of the roof!

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Steinzeit Wrote:
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> E111 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It is common to all Taurus III (class 1216)
> > locomotives. It stands out on the Cargoserv
> unit
> > because of the color difference.
> >
> > E111
>
> I would agree, but I think "all"  -- or how one
> defines a 1216 ! -- might have to be qualified for
> a few exceptions:  It would appear that some or
> all of those which have only two pantographs,
> such as Cargoserve 1216 930 or the Arriva
> machines, have the "rod" rather than "buss bar"
> electrical connections.

Steinzeit,

Agreed! My "all" is too far fetched if one considers some of the subclasses of the 1216 (aka ES 64 U4), especially the ES 64 U4-G. When Arriva (VBG) ordered their 4 (later 5) Eurosprinters as single system locomotives, production of the carbody of the classes 1016 / 1116 at ÖBB Linz was already finished, so Siemens decided to build them with a carbody of the class 1216, but with the electrical equipment of the 1016/1116, and to assign the internal class designation ES 64 U4-G to them (German class 183.0). The same happened to Eurosprinters delivered to other operators like Cargoserv, which also received a couple of ES 64 U4-G (and rebuilt those later as ES 64 U4 - B9).

From what I researched so far (and this research was by far not extensive), I would conclude that all single- and dual system ES 64 U4 (i.e. those with the class 1216 carbody) have the "rod" electrical connections on the roof, as you pointed out correctly. Only the triple-system ES 64 U4 have the "bus bar" connections. But one word of caution when looking at the pictures: The "bus bar" can only be seen on the left side of the locomotive (cab 1 to the left), but not from the right side (cab 1 to the right). Then it is hidden by the "Dachgarten" (roof garden) of pantographs, isolators and switches.

As usual, any addition is highly apreciated!
E111

Why the Italian flag on the Austrian locomotive?

Gerald Gaugl
Ottawa ON

Somebody with more info than I have may wish to comment here, but I believe the website noted on that locomotive is pushing Italian/German traffic and services. So I suspect that's the reason for the Italian flag being on there.

OBB-Italia basically started as a joing venture between Austrian OBB and German DB to operate daytime EuroCity sevices to and from Italy......as apparently the Italian FS has been very fussy in recent years, and refused to take part.    At one one point, for a short period of time, there were no daytime passenger trains between Italy and neighboring countries.

EuroCity trains still only go as far south as Bologna (prior to the falling out, there were several Munich-Innsbruck-Rome trains), the international night trains no longer use FS rolling stock, and the Paris-Rome part of the Thello venture only lasted a year due to issues securing paths.   However, at least now there's a daytime Vienna-Venice train again......

We shall see......

Are these "buss bars" or "rods" actually conductors to high voltage/current transformers or devices located within the unit?