ND2 is the name for a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

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

, produced by

Electroputere Electroputere S.A. (which translates as ''Electropower'' in English) is a Romanian company based in Craiova. Founded in 1949, it is one of the largest industrial companies in Romania. Electroputere has produced more than 2,400 diesel locomotive ...

, exported to and employed in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

China Railway China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout Ch ...

. It was made for the purpose of heavy transport.

History

ND2 is a derivative of LDE2100 (060DA) locomotive. The

Chinese Ministry of Railways Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

started importing this locomotive in 1974 under a barter arrangement to fill a gap in the domestic locomotive production. Most of the class were based at

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Bureau, with some others working as far south as

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. At its apex, ND2 class was the predominant passenger power south of

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

. Rated at 2300 hp UIC, ND2 traces its lineage back to a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

design created by SLM and Sulzer. Externally, ND2 bears resemblance to Ae 6/6 Swiss

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 ...

Production

A total number of 284 ND2 locomotives were produced. The ND2s are now being withdrawn but a few were exported back to Romania. Romanian private freight operator GFR now operates a few ND2 locomotives that were exported back to Romania, repainted and had their couplers changed.

References

External links

Railways of China

a history of ND2, Sulzer and its Swiss lineage ND2 Co-Co locomotives Electroputere locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1972 Standard gauge locomotives of China {{diesel-loco-stub