FS Class E.332 was a class of three-phase

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 of 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). They were used for the haulage of passenger trains between 1917 and 1963. Designed and built at the same time as the

FS Class E.331 FS Class E.331 was a class of Three-phase AC railway electrification, three-phase electric locomotives of the Italian State Railways. Eighteen of these 2′C2′ locomotives were built between 1914 and 1919 by Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, Bred ...

, they represented an attempt by FS to extend the use of three-phase AC electric traction from primary to secondary routes. Their performance was disappointing and they were relegated to a marginal role, in which they remained despite several modifications.

Overview

The good results of the experiments with, and then regular use of, the three-phase AC traction system, had, by 1912, induced the FS to order 45 locomotives of Class E.550 and 16 of Class E.330. The Material and Traction Service of FS now decided to consider the possibility of breaking the monopoly of the Italian Westinghouse Company (

Società Italiana Westinghouse The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

) with the acquisition of two new classes of locomotives for passenger trains, the E.331 and the E.332. In the spring of 1913, FS prepared the design of the mechanical part to be used for both classes and, after long private negotiations, entrusted an order for the construction of 18 locomotives to the company

Costruzioni Meccaniche di Saronno Costruzioni Meccaniche di Saronno was an Italian company producing steam locomotives and cars, active from 1887 to 1918. Origins The origins of the engineering company are to be found in a framework of political agreements of the economic-militar ...

. The order was divided into two. The first, dated 14 December 1913, was for 6 machines to be built according to the design of the mechanical part prepared by the FS and with the electrical part designed and built by Ateliers de Construction Oerlikon of Oerlikon, Zurich, which gave rise to the Class E.332. The second, dated early in 1914, was for 12 machines with an E (0-10-0) wheel arrangement, intended for the haulage of freight trains, which would have constituted a new Class 051 (E.551 according to the classification of 1914). The latter, however, were not built because of the termination of the contract, which took place in the spring of 1914 for unknown reasons. Together with the Class E331, the Class E.332 formed the last chapter in the collaboration between the FS and Swiss industry in the field of three-phase electric traction.

Numbering

The numbering in group 034 (0341-0346) originally planned was not adopted. All the machines entered service with the number E.332.1-6, adopted in the spring of 1914. The definitive numbering E.332.001-006, adopted in 1917, was practically applied in 1931. As in all groups of three-phase alternating current system locomotives the second digit of the group number (034 and then E.332) indicated the machines with larger diameter wheels ("high wheels") intended for passenger trains. In the definitive classification that came into force in 1917, the letter E. indicated an electric locomotive, the first digit 3 indicated the number of driving axles, the second 3 indicated machines with "high wheels" and the third digit indicated the chronological number of the project. The identification plates affixed to the sides led, as a rule, to the marking FS 332.001 (and following) without the letter E. This was probably because the numbering was carried out in 1931 at the Grandi Riparazioni workshop in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

which, specializing in steam locomotives, did not have a mould for the letter "E".

Technical details

Mechanical part

The running gear allowed good riding on curves at high speed, especially on the tortuous lines of the

Liguria it, Ligure , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

n Riviera, in particular on the

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Sampierdarena Sampierdarena (also San Pier d'Arena; Ligurian: San Pè d'ænn-a) is a major port and industrial area of Genoa, in northwest Italy. With San Teodoro it forms the West Central (Centro Ovest) ''municipio''. Geography Sampierdarena lies on t ...

- Savona line, which was electrified on 1 September 1916. Inspired by the E.3101 locomotive of the French

Chemin de Fer du Midi The Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi (. CF du Midi), also known in English as the Midi or Southern Railway, was an early French railway company which operated a network of routes in the southwest of the country, chiefly in the area between ...

, a 2'C2' wheel arrangement was used, with sloped connecting rods and

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. This choice was dictated by the need to connect the large motors ( diameter), located in the central part of the body, to the wheels without using the patented V-shaped connecting rod of the E.330. The design of the body, containing the two control cabs, motors, and electrical and pneumatic equipment, was similar to that of the Class E.331.

Electrical part

The traction circuit was designed and patented by the Oerlikon engineers. It provided two cascade connections (6 and 8 poles) and two parallel connections (also 6 and 8 poles). The starting

rheostat A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat. The measuring instrume ...

was of cast iron, divided into 16 steps and controlled by an electro-pneumatic switch. It, together with the motors, needed energetic cooling, and this was provided by two electric fans with a total power of 12 kW. Overheating was a constant problem and often caused breakdowns.

Construction

According to the contract, the class should have been delivered by September 1915, but the entry of Italy into the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

pushed all industries to favour the construction of military equipment with consequent delays to orders for civilian materials, such as locomotives. This led to a delay of about two years in deliveries, which were made as follows: The works plates show the year of construction as 1915, so it appears that construction was already well advanced at the beginning of the hostilities.

Performance

According to the project specification, the E.332 should have delivered four speeds that, at the voltage of 3700 V and the frequency of 16.7 Hz, should have been . At these speeds, tractive effort should have been . These values were not achieved, owing to some incorrect assumptions in the design of the electrical equipment, especially regarding the combination with the cascaded motors. The defects were most obvious at low speeds. Following modifications in 1917-1918, working on the Giovi branch line, they could independently haul a train (i.e. five 1921 type carriages) at a speed of . On the

- La Spezia line, from 1925 onwards, they could haul loads up to at the first three running speeds, with performance equivalent to that of the E.333. After the war, on the Genoa - La Spezia line, the following loads were permitted: * At , * At , * At , Statistics published by FS in 1938 showed that the overall reliability of the class had improved to match the average for three-phase locomotive classes.

Service

From 1917 to 1925 Class E.332 served on the Genoa - Savona line and on the Giovi branch. From 1925 they were assigned to hauling passenger trains along the

Riviera di Levante The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...

(Genoa - La Spezia line). Following the contraction of traffic generated by the economic crisis of 1929, the whole class was stored at the

repair shops and remained there until 1934. From 1934 all were assigned to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, where they hauled trains on all the flat lines, or those with modest gradients, radiating from the Turin. Occasionally they worked trains destined for Genoa and Savona.

Depots

The locomotives were allocated to the following depots: * From 1917 to 1921:

Rivarolo Ligure Rivarolo Ligure is a quarter in the north side of the city of Genoa, and is part of the Municipality Valpolcevera Val Polcevera is one of the main valleys crossing Genoa, taking its name from the eponymous river A river is a natural flo ...

* From 1921 to 1925: Rivarolo Ligure and Genoa Piazza Principe * From 1925 to 1931: Genoa (Terralba) * Shortly before storage at

, one unit was assigned to the

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

depot, presumably for trial runs to Pistoia and Porrettana * From 1934:

* From 1961: Savona

Nicknames

The E.332s, like the E.331s, were dubbed "Assassins" and "Coffins" due to fatal accidents caused by the placement of electrical equipment (particularly the main switch, cooled with oil) behind the cabs without adequate protection in the event of an explosion.

Preservation

No units have been preserved