European Railroad Discussion > Switzerland: Interesting Diesel Locomotive / Recognition Help Nee

I was developing pictures to 4rail.net Swiss gallery today and can't find the description to diesel locomotive below on the left.It seems like it would have some writing on sides plus a builders plate, but the resolution does not allow me to read those even in the full sized pictures (~4000 pixels wide).

This seems like a definitely interesting vehicle with a strange cabinet (something to do with tunnel usage?) a top fo the cab. Would SOB Tm 236 be a "miscellaneous class", as the locomotive on the right (the one looking like a Köff build) is also Tm 236... ?

As I'm sure there are Swiss railfans aboard and people well acquainted with Swiss railroading, so could anyone help with the recognition? Thanks in advance!

 

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TM 236 is the class designation for what was previously a Tm 2/2 (2 axles with 2 axles driven). If I read the roadnumber correctly (236 009-7) for the big one, the locomotive in your picture was built by Stadler in 1983. Length over buffers is 10300 mm, weight is 38 metric tons, max speed is 60 km/h and the unit is rated at 559 kW. The smaller one is a Köf II, built in 1960 by Jung in Germany (serial number 13180).

Sorry, that's all I have!

E111



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/15 10:47 by E111.

Thank you very much E111, this helped me forward!

Special thanks also for introducing me to Köffs, those seem to be something very typically Central European in local switching of the early 20th century. Definitely very unusual locomotives, though great in numbers!  I have a close up of the Tm 236 008. Maybe we all could run a collection of pitures of Köffs and Köfflikes sometime on these pages?
 

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A similar DB loco I shot in Kaiserslautern in 1979.

Brian Ehni

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Definitely! Köffs are interesting, looks like your example has canvas to replace parts of the windows, wonder why?

twin_star_rocket Wrote:
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> A similar DB loco I shot in Kaiserslautern in
> 1979.
>
> Brian Ehni

Anyone know why SOB Tm 236 has this device on  top of the cab or exhaust stack? 

McKey Wrote:
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> Definitely! Köffs are interesting, looks like
> your example has canvas to replace parts of the
> windows, wonder why?
Originally, the Köf II (K = Kleinlokomotive (locomotive of low power), ö = Ölmotor (diesel engine), f = Flüßigkeitsgetriebe (hydraulic transmission, II = group number) had no windows or doors on the side. Leather curtains have been used to protect the drivers (not necessarily engineers) from rain and snow. Compare with my first picture below. Eventually, some of the units got windows on the side and sometimes even door (see my second picture).

> Anyone know why SOB Tm 236 has this device on 
> top of the cab or exhaust stack? 
Seem to be additional main brake-air reservoirs, as other picture on the web show that these two tanks are connected to the original main air reservoir.

Hope this helps,
E111
 

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Thank you E111 for the explanation and addtional Köfferlich pictures! Maybe we could one day m ake a post of all locomotives that look like Köff? The more I go around the more I seem to find them all around the 1435 mm normal gauge network.

Here are two SNCF "Loco-Tracteur"'s  (locomotive tractors) in 1969 in France.

In Europe, switching duties are often carried out by station staff under the guidance of a station master. On many European systems, smaller yards have "loco-tractors" designed for one person operation. The "Y' number on these SNCF machines probably indicates that they are not locomotives in terms of crewing.

These small switching locomotives vary greatly between European systems.

Oddly, I don't think the UK ever adopted a similar type of operation, although switching staff were often station staff as in Europe.

 

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What a highly interesting pair of locotractors eminence_grise!

My turn to throw a stone, here is a Köff model from Denmark. The model neatly shows all details inside too, something that seems hard to catch with a camera from outside.

Maybe someone else of us can post some more locotractor pics here?
 

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Here's DSB 262 in 1971, sadly a poor photograph.  It does depict Danish railwaymen switching a warehouse with a typical European ventilated box van of the era. Note less than carload ladings on the freight shed platform.

One feature common to many European shunting locomotives is that they are dual control, and designed to be operated from a standing position.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 08:13 by eminence_grise.

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Hmm, here is a purpose built "dual wheel" for locotractor, wonder how this would work on sea... ;) or am I being ridiculous...well two DSB class Mz (the huge Nohab diesel with EMD 645 inside) did exactly this, or tried while switching locally on the boat ramp. This Frichs (Danish built from the French model) was emplyed for decades at One of the Finnish naval stations.

Eminence_grice, can we continue our duel on locotractors? ;)

 

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I have not seen the operating instructions for "loco tractors" but I believe the controls were simple.

Wheel style throttles are common in Europe, and the large wheels in the cab seem to be a feature of the German and Danish machines.

Alternately, they could be handbrake wheels.  Although all tractors pictured have air or vacuum piping, my guess is that the locomotive brakes (in North American terms, the independant brake) or simply hand brakes would be the system used most frequently on a tractor.

The operator would be the same person "hooking up" the couplings and making sure the buffers are compressed.

One of the pictures shows a collection of yellow wheel chocks on the footboard, meaning that the operator would place wheel chocks under the wheels of freight cars to secure them during switching moves.

For many years, one of the grain loading facilities in Vancouver BC had British built diesel hydraulic switching locomotives very similar in design and concept to loco-tractors.
.

The large wheels in the cab of the German and Danish units are the the throttle (continous, no notches), allowing the filling of the prime mover and the hydraulic transmission. The Köf II have up to two brakes: One foot-pedal for the brakes of the unit (either mechanical or air) and, on modernized units, one air brake for the cars using a brake valve (only available on the right hand side of the drivers desk).

E111

Regarding the two SNCF machines above:
  -   Y-MO-25005  was one of eight 32 ton machines built by Moyse [ hence the MO ] in 1944-51 with electric transmission;  all were assigned to the Northern Region

  -   Y6038 is one of 21 or so machines originally built for the ETAT in 1924-32 and modernized in 1960-61 by Nevers works of SNCF;  mechanical transmission and 30 tons, all stayed on the Western Region [ which makes me think the photo was taken at Trappes ?? ]

In addition to locotracteurs, the Y prefix was also used for locomoteurs;  the distinction between the two classes may have been horsepower, with 300 the dividing line.   The ten "V36" 'war prize' machines, which originally were classed as line locomotives, fell into this category.

With best regards, SZ

Thank you again Steinzeit! Looks like I need to add two more manufacturers to my list :D

It appears that Moyse builds are still used today like this French class Y8000 proves. Quite a surprise at least to me with all the manufacturing changes last decades. Y8301 is parked here behind the pole at Nice Ville on a hot summer's day. It is owned by Akiem (which in turn is owned by locomotives previous owner SNCF). No freight here, so it is apparently used for local Corail and similar Italian coach movements. I wonder if this is in shared use with Thello (Trenitalia + Transdev) or still used just by SNCF like a couple of years ago. Anyways this unti weights just 35 metric tons and has 205 kW / 275 hp and a maximum speed of 60 km/h. It is surprising that it can move such a large rake of coaches. 

 

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