NSB El 3 was an

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 ...

used by the

Norwegian State Railways Vygruppen, branded as Vy, is a government-owned railway company which operates most passenger train services and many bus services in Norway. The company is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Its sub-brands include Vy Buss coach s ...

(NSB) to transport

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

on the

Ofoten Line The Ofoten Line ( no, Ofotbanen) is a railway line in Narvik, Norway. It runs from the Port of Narvik to Riksgränsen on the Norway–Sweden border, where the line continues as the Ore Line via Kiruna and Gällivare to Luleå. The Ofoten Lin ...

. Five twin-locomotive sets were in service from 1925 to 1967.

History

The Swedish part of the ore line, the

Iron Ore Line The Iron Ore Line ( sv, Malmbanan) is a long railway line between Riksgränsen and Boden in Norrbotten County, Sweden, owned by Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration). The line also contains two branches, from Kiruna to Svappavaar ...

, was electrified in 1915 but Norway kept using

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s until the Norwegian electrification in 1923. As Norwegian traction the El 3 was chosen along with five triple-engine El 4 units. Eight El 3 were built with delivery on August 9, 1925, two more on October 19, 1929. The El 3 and El 4 had about the same characteristics and used for the same purpose and ordered simultaneously; choosing two models like this is atypical for railway companies because of higher maintenance costs. By 1922 SJ had placed an order on the new Of-locomotives, yet NSB chose to base the El 3 on the older Oe. Build by

ASEA ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' (English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås a ...

, they were equipped with

quill drive A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal- nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventuall ...

and

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. In this mechanism, the electric traction mo ...

; the latter only caused problems though, excessively increasing the current that caused damage. They only served on the Norwegian lines until 1949, after which they were where put into through trains to

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

. In 1950

LKAB Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a government owned Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 195 ...

decided to increase the mine output, requiring trains now to haul . In 1953-54 the locomotives were rebuilt to three triple-engine sets and supplemented with eight El 12. When LKAB chose to increase train weights more in the late 1960s, NSB responded with the order of the El 15. All El 3 and El 4 units were taken out of service with the delivery in 1967, none being preserved.

External links

Jernbane.net page on El 3 with pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:NSB El 03 15 kV AC locomotives El 03 Siemens locomotives AEG locomotives Ofoten Line Electric locomotives of Norway Railway locomotives introduced in 1925 (1′C)+(C1′) locomotives