The EMD DDM45 is a
meter-gauge
Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre.
The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, l ...
diesel-electric locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
built by
EMD. The DD in the name means that it has eight axles in two trucks, giving it a
AAR wheel arrangement#D-D wheel arrangement, while the M stands for the meter-gauge track it was to operate on, and the 45 represents the
EMD SD45
The SD45 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965 and 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating on the same frame as the SD38, SD39, SD40, and SDP40. As of 2022, mos ...
that the engine was derived from. They were built for service on the
Estrada de Ferro Vitória a Minas
The Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA, pronounced as ''Refesa'') () was the State-owned company, State-owned national railway company of Brazil created from ''Brazilian Federal Law #3.115'' on March 16, 1957, after several rail ...
(EFVM) in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. In the early 1970s, the EFVM needed not only to expand its locomotive roster, but to use the most powerful single-engined locomotives available, and the
SD45
The SD45 is a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between 1965 and 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 twenty-cylinder engine generating on the same frame as the SD38, SD39, SD40, and SDP40. As of 2022, mos ...
represented the highest-rated model that EMD had to offer at the time.
However, a large locomotive like an SD45 with its three-axle trucks was not readily adaptable to the EFVM's meter gauge trackage. The smaller
traction motor
A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit.
Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...
s of the meter gauge locomotive were unable to handle the full current capacity from the prime mover. EMD proposed using a meter-gauge version of the
Flexicoil
Flexicoil suspension is a type of secondary suspension for railway vehicles, typically having steel coil springs between the bogie trucks and chassis/frame of a passenger coach, goods freight wagon, or locomotive. Suspension systems using ste ...
-D four-axle
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s, similar to those found under the domestic
DD35
The EMD DD35 was a diesel-electric locomotive of D-D wheel arrangement built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the Union Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad.
History
In the early 1960s, Union Pacific started asking for a ...
,
DD35A and
DDA40X locomotive models. The two additional traction motors of this design allowed full power to be used.
Roster of DDM45s:
See also
*
EMD DD35
The EMD DD35 was a diesel-electric locomotive of D-D wheel arrangement built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the Union Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad.
History
In the early 1960s, Union Pacific started asking for a ...
*
EMD DD35A
*
EMD DDA40X
External links
DDM45
D-D locomotives
Metre gauge diesel locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1970
Diesel-electric locomotives of Brazil
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