The DB Class 202, also commonly referred to under its manufacturers' designation

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting v ...

- BBC DE2500, since it was only in experimental use and never purchased by the DB, is a class of diesel-electric locomotives designed for use on main and secondary lines for both passenger and freight trains. One unit was converted to 1.5 kV DC operation under electric

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superfici ...

, and used for evaluation by the

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

, as NS Class 1600P.

History

The class represents a major milestone in the German locomotive development, since in these locomotives three phase asynchronous electric traction was first applied in a mainline diesel-electric locomotive. The DE2500 featured a light-weight and completely modular construction, which allowed the quick and easy exchange of whole sections of the locomotive, such as the prime mover, generator or alternator sections. It was both capable of driving on Co'Co' bogies (002, 004) as well as Bo'Bo' bogies (003). All the components of the electric sections - from generator to traction motors - were built to the latest state of the art featuring brushless, collectorless and nearly contactless operation, which resulted in long service intervals and high reliability. The locomotives were extensively tested by the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remaine ...

on its lines throughout Western Germany, starting in 1971 through the mid-1980s. They were stationed at Bw Mannheim with the following DB numbers: * 202 002-2 (white) * 202 003-0 (orange, later UmAn paint scheme) * 202 004-8 (blue)

Conversion to electric locomotive

During the mid-1970s, locomotive 202-002 was converted for the Dutch railways (NS) into an all-electric locomotive for 1.5 kV DC-

overhead wire An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...

. It was painted in the Dutch yellow scheme, assigned the number 1600P and given the logos of the Dutch railways. A

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

for the collection of the current from the overhead wire was installed, the diesel prime mover and the generator section were removed and replaced with

ballast weight Ballast weight is something that is added to a race car to alter its performance. In most racing series, cars have a minimum weight. Often, the actual weight of the car is lower, so ballast is used to bring it up to the minimum. The advantage i ...

. The NS was very pleased with the results of the test cycles, but ultimately chose to acquire its serial-production Class 1600 from French manufacturers, based on the BB 7200, for both budget and delivery time considerations.

Test-run in Denmark

The Danish State Railways, DSB, tested the locomotive 202 004. The later acquired

DSB Class ME The DSB class ME are a series of diesel-electric locomotives, introduced in 1981. A total of 37 units were built, all by the German factory Henschel for the Danish State Railways (DSB). They were among the first AC drive locomotives in serial pr ...

, though heavier and stronger (115 t, 3.300 hp), were based on these prototypes. 37 of the class were built.

Models

An H0 scale model engine has been made of the BR 202 by the German company Heris.

Literature

* * * Karl Gerhard Baur: ''Die Geschichte der Drehstromlokomotiven''. EK-Verlag, Freiburg, 2005. * BBC ''Asynchronous motor drive for Diesel locomotives'' Order No. D VK 40810 E * Horst J. Obermayer: ''Diesellokomotiven - Mit Kleinlokomotiven'', Stuttgart 1972. {{NS locos 202 Diesel-electric locomotives of Germany Bo′Bo′ locomotives Co′Co′ locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1971 Henschel locomotives Brown, Boveri & Cie locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Germany Standard gauge locomotives of the Netherlands Mixed traffic locomotives