The Indian locomotive class WCP-4 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 g ...
s that was developed in late 1920s by
Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) 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 tota ...
. The model name stands for
broad gauge (W), Direct Current (C), Passenger traffic (P) engine, 1st generation (1). They entered service in 1930. A single WCP-4 was built at England between 1928 and 1929.
The WCP-4 served both passenger trains for over 40 years. With the introduction of more modern types of locomotives and 25 KV
AC electrification, all were withdrawn by early 1960s. Today the locomotives is scrapped.
History
GIPR ordered the following test locomotives in 1923,Electrification of the GIPR began in 1922. Powerful locomotives were required to transport the express trains on the mountain railway to overcome the Western Ghats. They also had to be able to reach speeds of 85 miles an hour (137 km / h). Three test locomotives were therefore ordered from different manufacturers in order to be able to select a suitable design for the series. The tender and evaluation was monitored by the English electrical engineering firm Merz & McLellan in London.
The EA / 1 emerged as the best locomotive from the evaluation, so that 21 more vehicles of this type were ordered. The locomotive is believed to have been scrapped in the 1960s.
See also
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Rail transport in India#History
*
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 tota ...
*
Locomotives of India
The Indian Railways primarily operates fleet of electric and diesel locomotives, along with several compressed natural gas (CNG) locomotives. Steam locomotives are operated on a few World Heritage Sites and also run occasionally as heritag ...
*
Rail transport in India
Rail transport in India is an important mode of conveyance for people and goods in India. Indian Railways (IR) is the primary operator of rail operations throughout the country. IR is a state-owned organisation of the Ministry of Railways, whi ...
References
Books
External links
*http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-specs.html#WCP-1
India railway fan club
{{Broad gauge locomotives of India , state=collapsed
Electric locomotives of India
1500 V DC locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1928
5 ft 6 in gauge locomotives
SLM locomotives