SNCF Class BB 16500

The SNCF BB 16500s were a class of SNCF electric locomotives operating at a supply voltage of 25 kV single-phase 50 Hz AC.

Ordered from 1954 as part of the electrification of the radial lines from Paris to the north and east of France, a total of 294 locomotives were delivered between 1958 and 1964, which made them the most numerous class of electric locomotives put into service by the SNCF. These versatile machines operated over all the lines of the north-eastern quarter of France at the head of regional passenger trains or freight trains, descending as far as the Jura, Dole-Vallorbe, or venturing to the Channel coast at Cherbourg or Le Havre. Some locomotives also operated on the northern and eastern suburban lines of Paris. Eventually competition from more modern classes and the discomfort of their driving cabs, led to the locomotives all being withdrawn between 2001 and 2011.

Genesis of the class

In the second half of the 1950s, the Paris–Lille line was electrified with single-phase alternating current. The radial routes, from Paris to the east of France, were also electrified. The original fleet of locomotives was made up of BB 16000s , a synthesis of the driving qualities of the BB 12000s put into service between Valenciennes and Thionville in 1954 and the bodies of the BB 9200s , the first of which had been operating since 1957 on the lines linking Paris to Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

In 1954, studies for the design of a locomotive dedicated to mixed traffic service, passenger and freight, were launched under the direction of Louis Armand and Fernand Nouvion . The specifications stipulated that these 2,000 kW locomotives would have a weight of approximately , that they must only be equipped with one motor per bogie and have a double gear ratio limiting the speed to depending on the use of the machine. Alsthom 's design was finally chosen, in preference to that of MTE, manufacturer of the BB 16000s.

A first sketch, not proceeded with, gave the locomotives an appearance quite similar to that of the BB 12000, with a single cab framed by two engine cowls of different lengths, giving the locomotive a total length of . However, the single-cab formula, though it simplified the wiring of the locomotive, prohibited operation in multiple, so the BB 16500's final design would be a locomotive of a more classic configuration with two cabs. The performance was finally established at for a continuous power rating of 2,580 kW and a mass of ; the increase in power allowed a slightly higher speed in freight ratio but the excessive flexibility of the suspension limited the maximum speed in passenger ratio; the redesign of the general architecture was accompanied by a significant increase in weight, which seems to have been clearly underestimated in the preliminary study, and a slight increase in length.

Description

Technical characteristics

The BB 16500 were single-phase 25 kV/50 Hz, medium-power machines, built in the Alsthom factories in Belfort .

Each locomotive consisted of a chassis which supported the two driver's cabs and three removable covers, each of which includes part of the sides and the roof, and the end covers supporting the pantographs. The shape of the body, long , was inspired by those of the first CC 7100s . It included, when the locomotives were first put into service, cab glazing allowing a wide panoramic view thanks to the provision of corner windows. These were replaced by sheet metal uprights during major overhauls of the locomotives between 1965 and 1970.

The power train incorporates a large part of the elements already used on the BB 12000 and BB 16000 classes. The rectifiers, two mercury vapor igniters, supply the traction motors with rectified and smoothed current. As deliveries and technical improvements progressed, the ignitrons were replaced by later types of rectifiers, then finally by silicon diodes; this last type, more powerful, is finally applied to the whole of the seriesduring overhauls.

As provided for in the specifications, the short-wheelbase, , single-engine bogies had a gear ratio change that could be operated when stationary, a device that sometimes tended to jam; three sets of reduction gears, with slightly different ratios, were fitted to the locomotives. The first batch, BB 16501 to BB 16654, had a suspension by elastic return legs and pivots; while the remaining locomotives, BB 16655 to BB 16794, had a pendular suspension. To improve cab comfort, the fitting of a double-decker suspension, replacing the original systems in place, was carried out on 120 locomotives from 1998 to 2003.

294 members of the class were built in six years. They were ordered in several successive stages, as electrification progressed in the north and east. In 2021, they constitute the largest series of electric locomotives ordered by the SNCF. The class was also the first member of the BB Alsthom family which also includes 146 BB 8500 (some rebuilt as class BB 88500 or BB 8700), 105 BB 17000, 13 BB 20200 and 194 BB 25500.

Liveries

The BB 16500s carried, during their careers, a great variety of liveries, some concerning only a few locomotives, sometimes very temporarily.

The first BB 16500s left the factory were uniformly green, without any decoration. The next batch were put into service in a light bluish green livery with a "Celtic green" band at the bottom of the body but the light bluish green was quickly replaced with a darker shade. In 1970-71, and like their cousins the BB 8500 , BB 17000 and BB 25500, they adopted a dark green colour enhanced with white stripes on the sides, framing the ventilation louvres, themselves painted in dark grey, a colour repeated on the fronts in the form of "moustaches". The reporting numbers were daffodil yellow. BB 16595 and BB 16625, withdrawn on 26 March 26, 2002 and 15 December 2003, were the last locomotives to have kept this livery until the end of their career.

The "concrete" livery, grey with orange bands, was used on a large number of SNCF engines from the 1980s, including 278 BB 16500s.

On an experimental basis, BB 16604 and BB 16789 were repainted between 1992 and 1998 with the "Arzens livery", composed of grey and "havana brown" for one, and grey and "garrigue green" for the other, with orange moustaches. Though not extended to any more BB 16500s, this livery was also successfully applied to many BB 9400s.

The five BB 16500s of the "dromedary trains", assigned to the TER Picardie, were painted in concrete grey with front faces and the frame of the shutters in "parrot green".

Seven of the 156 machines dedicated to the freight sector received, in the early 2000s, a livery of green, grey and white arranged in a "Neapolitan slice".

BB 16583, withdrawn on 8 October 2009, is the only one to have worn the "Île-de-France" livery, which was much more common among BB 17000s.

BB 16500.png,
BB 16527 at Lille.jpg,
BB16705-amiens.jpg,
BB 16592 en tête d'une RRR à Amiens.JPG,
RFo BB 16500 at Predeal railway station.jpg,

Career

Rise and Climax

Deliveries of BB 16500s commenced on 25 July 1958 with BB 16501, assigned to the Strasbourg depot, and ended on 26 November 1964 with BB 16794, commissioned at Paris-La Chapelle.

The first locomotives were used in 1958 on the Luxembourg – Metz – Strasbourg – Basel route , where their performance immediately exceeded the requirements of the specification, then on the northern suburbs of Paris, whose lines had just been electrified. Their radius of action was rapidly expanding as the north-eastern network was electrified. In 1965, a quota was allotted to Dole, where they hauled international trains like the Orient-Express, sometimes double headed.

At the end of 1964, the class was complete and the north-east network being fully electrified, the BB 16500s provided very varied services in an area ranging from Dunkirk

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