The FS Class E.330 was a small class of three-phase

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

used in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, introduced in the 1910s.

History

In the late 1900s, the success of the three-phase electrification on mountain lines such as the

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line, the

Simplon Tunnel , it, Galleria del Sempione , line = Simplon line, (Lötschberg railway line) , location = Traversing the Lepontine Alps between Switzerland and Italy , coordinates = – , system = Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF ...

and the Giovi Pass line, led the newly formed

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

, under the direction of

Riccardo Bianchi Riccardo Bianchi (1854-1936) was an Italian engineer and the first Director-General of the Italian State Railways (FS), formed in 1905. Overview Riccardo Bianchi was born at Casale Monferrato, in Piedmont on 20 August 1854. He did his studies an ...

, to extend the electrification to other lines, where electric locomotives gave better performance. For the new lines to be electrified, three batches of electric locomotives were ordered, including the E.330 and the E.550 (a type E.551 was ordered but not built). Unlike the previous electric locomotives used on mountain lines, the new locomotives had to be able to vary their speed, a capability which at the time was difficult to achieve, due to the fact that the three-phase motor spins at constant speed set by the feeding current

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

. The E.330 was designed to have four speeds (where the E.430 had only one and the contemporary E.550 two); this capability was obtained thanks to two patents by the German engineer Manu Stern and the Hungarian engineer Maurice Milch. The wheel arrangement chosen was

1′C1′ Rigid-framed electric locomotives were some of the first generations of electric locomotive design. When these began the traction motors of these early locomotives, particularly with AC motors, were too large and heavy to be mounted directly to the ...

, similar to that adopted on the contemporary

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class of steam locomotives. The production contract was signed in 1913, construction of the new units beginning at

Società Italiana Westinghouse The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

, which had designed the locomotive under the direction of

Kálmán Kandó Kálmán Kandó de Egerfarmos et Sztregova (''egerfarmosi és sztregovai Kandó Kálmán''; 10 July 1869 – 13 January 1931) was a Hungarian engineer, the inventor of phase converter and a pioneer in the development of AC electric railway tract ...

. The mechanical parts were co-built with

Società Italiana Ernesto Breda Società Italiana Ernesto Breda (), more usually referred to simply as Breda, was an Italian mechanical manufacturing company founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. History The firm was founded by Ernesto Breda in Milan in 1886. It original ...

. The locomotives were assigned to the

and

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n coast lines. The E.330s became operational in the Spring 1914. They were later used also in Lombardy on the local three-phase lines, until, from 1962, the railroads were adapted to the now standard 3,000 V direct current electrification. All the E.330s were phased out during the 1960s.

References

{{FS locos 1′C1′ locomotives E.330 Railway locomotives introduced in 1914 Three-phase AC locomotives Breda locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Italy