FS Class E.321 was a class of 17

third-rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

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 g ...

s, built for the

Italian State Railways Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

(FS) for operation on the

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

line and on the underground line in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

History

The E.321 was an evolution and improvement of the previous FS Class E.320. Seventeen units were built by

Officine Meccaniche Officine Meccaniche or OM was an Italian car and truck manufacturing company. It was founded in 1899 in Milan as Società Anonima Officine Meccaniche to manufacture railway rolling stock and car production began in 1918. It disappeared as s ...

(OM) of

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, with electrical equipment 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), from 1923 to haul heavy passenger trains on the electrified line of the Milan -

Porto Ceresio Porto Ceresio ( Varesino: ''Pòrt Cerési'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) on Lake Lugano in the Province of Varese in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan and about northeast of Varese, on the border with Switzerlan ...

railway and for use on the so-called "subway" of

Construction

The locomotive consisted of a single central box, following the typical design of the time, with cabs and control desks at each end. This was mounted on a rigid frame carried on three coupled axles with 1,500 mm driving wheels and a carrying axle on the typical Italian Zara bogie at each end. The wheel arrangement was

1′C1′ Rigid-framed electric locomotives were some of the first generations of electric locomotive design. When these began the traction motors of these early locomotives, particularly with AC motors, were too large and heavy to be mounted directly to the ...

. The electrical equipment was contained in the central body. Two

direct current Direct current (DC) is one-directional flow of electric charge. An electrochemical cell is a prime example of DC power. Direct current may flow through a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or eve ...

(DC)

traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles ( electric multiple ...

s provided a total power of and the locomotive could reach a maximum speed of 95 km/h. The design was almost the same as the E.320, but addressed the fragility of the E.320's mechanical rod transmission. The two motors, of similar but slightly lower power rating, were now set lower in the frame. This allowed the previous arrangement of steeply inclined coupling rods to intermediate

jackshaft A jackshaft, also called a ''countershaft'', is a common mechanical design component used to transfer or synchronize rotational force in a machine. A jackshaft is often just a short stub with supporting bearings on the ends and two pulleys, gear ...

s to be replaced by a lighter triangular rod on each side, similar to that used on the Italian three-phase locomotives, and no longer needing the jackshafts. The total weight of the locomotive in working order was 69 tonnes, of which 48 tonnes was adhesive. This was nearly three tonnes lighter than the E.320 and yet there was nearly a ton more adhesive weight. They were painted in the typical khaki brown Castano-Isabella livery of Italian electric locomotives.

Preservation

E.321.012 is preserved at the Museum of Science and Technology in

History

Construction

Preservation

See also

References

Further reading