ST43 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 locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover 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 ...

, 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 locomotives ...

, exported to and operating in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It was made for the purpose of heavy transport.

History

In the early 1960s a need appeared in

for urgent introduction of locos able to haul heavy freight. This was caused mainly by the intensification of transport on south–north line, especially from the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

n coal mines to

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

and

Świnoujście Świnoujście (; german: Swinemünde ; nds, Swienemünn; all three meaning "Świna ivermouth"; csb, Swina) is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. Situated mainly on the islands ...

harbours. Lack of experience in building diesel locos for that purpose was the reason why the first ones had to be bought from

Introduction

In March 1965 first 30 items of 060DA locomotives (factory number of ST43) were introduced into

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

and

, according to agreement with Romanian producer. Good results of tests allowed next deliveries to be brought to Poland. Until 1978 a total number of 422 locomotives were operating in Poland.

Production

Present days

In the 1990s, the ST43 appeared to be no longer necessary as most of the tracks serviced by it were electrified. Most of the units were withdrawn