The SM15 (factory designation 12D) is a Polish diesel shunter used by

PKP PKP may stand for: Organizations * Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930, original Filipino communist party * Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas, underground Filipino Maoist party * Phi Kappa Phi, oldest all-discipline honor society in the United Stat ...

and industry — where it carried the designation Ls750H. It is based on the Soviet ТГМ3 (TGM3) locomotive.

History

Between the years 1963–1966, a total of 56 locomotives had been produced — 27 of which were used by

. Of the latter 27, the first two units (SM15-01 and SM15-02) were built at the Людиновский тепловозостроительный завод (en:

Lyudinovo Lyudinovo (russian: Люди́ново) is a town and the administrative center of Lyudinovsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of Lake Lompad formed by a dam on the Nepolot River, southwest of Kaluga, the administra ...

Diesel Locomotive Factory) and exported to Poland. Production then resumed at the Fablok factory in Chrzanów where the remaining 25 units, earmarked for PKP, were built. The newly built SM15s were assigned to the depot in Kraków Płaszów, before being withdrawn from service in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the SM42 series replaced them. Despite their relatively short operational history, the engineers who drove the locomotives remember them as being very powerful machines.

Technical data

The SM15 is equipped with a Soviet 550 kW diesel engine (a number of SM15s had Polish V12CD9 engines installed, rather than the Soviet variant) with hydromechanical

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

. Certain models destined for use in industry had hydraulic transmission, and these carried the designation Ls750Hu. The SM15 is a B′B′ locomotive, which means that the unit runs on two

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, with all axles powered. The main reason behind the SM15's short operational lifespan was the unreliability of its transmission and power units.

Preserved Units

Currently, there are three known examples of the SM15 in preservation: *SM15-17 is an exhibit at the Warsaw Railway Museum *SM15-22 has been kept back as a monument at the Technical Rail College in Tarnowskie Góry

References

Railway locomotives introduced in 1963 Diesel locomotives of Poland Diesel-hydraulic locomotives B′B′ locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Poland {{poland-rail-transport-stub