The Indian locomotive class WCM-5 is a class of 1.5 kV DC

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 gas ...

s that was developed in 1956 by

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) is an electric locomotive manufacturer based in India. The works are located at Chittaranjan in the Asansol Sadar subdivision of West Bengal, with an ancillary unit in Dankuni. The main unit is 32 km f ...

(CLW) for

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), Direct Current (C), Mixed traffic (M) engine, 5th generation (5). The trains were the first locomotive of any kind fully developed and built in India. They entered service in 1961. A total of 21 WCM-5 locomotives was built at CLW between 1961 and 1963. The WCM-5 served both passenger and freight trains for over 39 years. With the introduction of more modern types of locomotives and 25 KV AC electrification, all were withdrawn in the early 2000s after repeated failures. Today one locomotive is preserved with rest of the locomotives have been Scrapped. In 1998 the last WCM 5 locomotive done the duty with legendary

Indrayani Express The 22105/22106 Indrayani Superfast Express is a superfast express train belonging to Indian Railways that runs between Mumbai CSMT and Pune Junction in India. It is a daily service and is named after the river Indrayani flowing near Pune. T ...

History

the history of WCM-5 begins in the early 1960s with the stated aim of the

(IR) to remove the aging fleet of WCG-1 and WCP-1 class locomotives working in the

Central Railways Central Railway (abbreviated CR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. It has the distinction of operating the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from ...

(CR) . So IR to procure 21 1500 V DC electric locomotives from

(CLW), who also previously supplied Steam locomotives to India. They are manufactured in India in 1954-1955.They were the last “nosed” locomotives of any type to be manufactured. The WCM-5 locomotives were used on many Express trains like the

Deccan Queen The 12123 / 12124 Deccan Queen is a daily Indian passenger train service operated by the Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways connecting the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Introduced on June 1, 1930, the Deccan Queen was India's "first sup ...

etc as well as in Freight Duties. The Deccan Queen had WCM-5 with a matching livery until the 1990s. In the mid 1990s the aging WCM-5 began to fail regularly causing disruption in train services. So Central Railways decided to withdraw these locomotive from services and by 2000 ,all units were withdrawn.

Preserved Examples

Former sheds

* Pune *

Kalyan Kalyan (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) ...

(KYN)

References

External links

* http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-specs.html#WCM-1

India railway fan club
{{Broad gauge locomotives of India, state=collapsed Electric locomotives of India 1500 V DC locomotives Co-Co locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1961 5 ft 6 in gauge locomotives Chittaranjan Locomotive Works locomotives

History

Preserved Examples

Former sheds

See also

References

External links