The FS Class D.345 is a class of

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the power source 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 whee ...

used in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, introduced in the 1970s and still in service.

History

After the positive experience with class D.343, in 1970, Italian state railways,

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (; ; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the initialism FS) is Italy's national state-owned enterprise, state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate service ...

, ordered further 70 diesel locomotives with some minor improvements. The FIAT engine was confirmed, while the Breda-engine was to be abandoned and a new, more reliable cooling system was fitted. The locomotives were manufactured by FIAT,

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

and SOFER, with electrical equipment provided by

Magneti Marelli Marelli Europe S.p.A. (formerly Magneti Marelli S.p.A.) is a European subsidiary of Marelli Holdings which develops and manufactures components for the automotive industry. The firm is headquartered in Corbetta, Italy, and includes 86 manufac ...

, TIBB and Italtrafo. The last unit was delivered in 1979.

Description

The D.345's structure is very similar to that of D.343. The central compartment, housing the engine, the generator and the cooling system, is missing the baggage room, which had been never used in the previous class. The engine is a 4+4 V cylinder FIAT 218SSF with direct

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All c ...

, with a power output of 1,350 HP at 1500 rpm. The electric generator is a DC one produced by

Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri Tecnomasio was an Italian scientific and precision instrument company founded in the 1860s. By the beginning of the 20th century the company has begun to produce electrical equipment. After financial problems in the early 1900s the company was acq ...

(TIBB), with a power of . The electric motors, one for each bogie, were produced by Ansaldo. The command circuit includes electro-pneumatic switches and relays, located in a large cabin in the front cab. D345 also introduced a static regulation with field-weakening (shunting) of the traction motors, which is divided in five levels that are automatically inserted (one at a time on each motor) when the throttle controller (which looks like a steering wheel and has 13 positions) is in any notch between 10 and 13.

References

External links

FS D345 @ Trainspo
* {{FS locos D.343 Bo′Bo′ locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1970 Gio. Ansaldo & C. locomotives Breda locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of Italy