RENFE Class 340

The Series 4000 of the Spanish railway company Renfe was a series of hydraulic diesel locomotives, the Krauss-Maffei had designed in relation to the V DB Class 200.1. Later, she was classified as Class 340. Krauss -Maffei awarded the Manufacturer's designation ML 4000 B = B '.

Development

1964 awarded the Renfe a series of diesel locomotives in the locomotive Export Union ( LEU). This was a merger of Krupp, Krauss -Maffei and existing since 1918 the Spanish plant of Babcock & Wilcox in Bilbao. The new vehicles had one hand replace existing steam locomotives and on the other hand also increase the towing capacity and the speed on the routes. The climatic contrasts of the Spanish mountain ranges had to be considered in particularly: they were operating temperatures from -20 ° C to 45 ° C, snow storms in the winter and a humidity of 90 % in the summer to cope. - In parallel with the procurement of new locomotives of the superstructure of the routes was increased. - Krauss- Maffei built by the end of 1966, the first ten locomotives. The remaining 22 vehicles presented Babcock & Wilcox from June 1967 under license forth.

Technology

Accordingly, like the DB Class V 200.1 the Spanish locomotives with two engines were fitted behind the Endführerständen, but motorized significantly stronger with a total capacity of 2942 kW. Accordingly, the hydraulic transmission were adapted and provided with reinforced drive shafts. The harsh climatic conditions required a large and powerful cooling system. Therefore, the series was 4000 compared to the 200.1 V extended and provided with differently shaped side walls. Your tank capacity 5000 l also surpassed the German machines. Their top speed was, however, smaller with 130 km / h. The Spanish locomotives were intended for passenger and freight trains.

Service history

From the summer of 1967, the series took over 4000 the entire railway traffic on the railway line Madrid - Zaragoza - Mora la Nova. This leads to long 16 ‰ and 18 ‰ ramps over the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula. The locomotives undergo trains with 800 tons and freight trains with 1,000 t. Later, the diesel locomotives were also used on other, no less difficult routes. They remained constant and remained in Spain until 1987. However, there were later increasingly failures due to poor maintenance. Most locomotives were scrapped. Get the 4020 (RENFE 340 020 ) in the Museo del Ferrocarril, Madrid.