The Blue Tiger (manufacturer designation: DE-AC33C) is a type of high powered

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

developed by ADtranz in association with

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History and design

The prototype was unveiled in 1996. Initially the

axle load An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearin ...

was expected to be a light and the power at ~. In practice, the German locomotives had an axle load of (which is normal for this type of diesel locomotive).

supplied diesel engines and electrical transmission system (which used IGBT-based inverters driving AC traction motors). The rest of the locomotive was built by AdTranz in Kassel. For the Pakistani export models a 16-cylinder engine was used. Bombardier took over AdTranz in 2001, subsequently the Blue Tiger locomotive was shown at InnoTrans in 2002 with a view to European orders. The German production models had a mass of (axle load ) and an engine power of . As of 2009, the class is no longer listed as a production model by Bombardier; GE also lists the family as a former production type. For the European market, Bombardier produces the less powerful diesel variants of the

TRAXX Alstom Traxx (sold as Bombardier TRAXX before 2021) is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives produced originally by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom, which was built in both freight and pass ...

family, whilst GE offers variants of its

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series for export.

Operators

Pakistan

The first orders for the locomotives came from

Pakistan Railways Pakistan Railways ( ur, ) is the national, state-owned railway company of Pakistan. Founded in 1861 and headquartered in Lahore, it owns of track across Pakistan, stretching from Torkham to Karachi, offering both freight and passenger servi ...

in the late 1990s. The locomotives were being built to a gauge of and powered by a 16-cylinder engine of instead of the 12-cylinder engine used in the prototype and other production models. The first ten were shipped out, the remainder assembled under license in Pakistan. Pakistan Locomotive Series Start From 6001 to 6030.

Malaysia

Twenty locomotives were built to gauge in 2003–2004 for

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.26 Class / Blue Tiger
''keratapi.com'' They were designated as " Class 26" (Numbers: 26101 – 26120). All the locomotives were named after capes in Malaysia. In the first decade of operations the locomotives proved more reliable than the Malaysian Class 29 locomotives bought at around the same time.

Germany

10 Locomotives were built to gauge with a view to leasing or orders. Various companies have used the locomotives. Initially ''Karsdorfer Eisenbahngesellschaft GmbH'' (KEG)Bombardier: Eight Blue Tiger Locomotives Soon To Be In Service For Karsdorfer Eisenbahn (Bombardier press release)
''canadair.ca'' was to use 8 units, but went bankrupt in 2005. In 2006, the distribution was:
'Blue Tiger' operator list ''privat-bahn.de'' *'' Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen'' (5 units including the prototype) *''

ITL Eisenbahngesellschaft ITL can refer to: * International Territorial Level, geographic classification in the United Kingdom. * Imaging Technology Laboratory, part of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory * '' In the Labyrinth'', a role-playing system built on Th ...

'' (Import Transport Logistik) (2 units) *'' Havelländische Eisenbahnen AG'' (4 units)

Models

A working scale model of this locomotive has been produced by the Slovenian company Mehano in N, TT and HO scale.

References

External links

Blue Tiger images (Europe)
''railfaneurope.net''
Bombardier FLEXXX Bogies
FLEXX Power 120 type used in Blue Tiger locomotives {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Tiger (Locomotive) Co′Co′ locomotives Co-Co locomotives Adtranz locomotives Keretapi Tanah Melayu Diesel-electric locomotives of Malaysia Diesel-electric locomotives of Pakistan Railway locomotives introduced in 1996 Diesel-electric locomotives of Germany