Class E el (

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: Ээл) was a Soviet

diesel-electric 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 wheels ...

class built between 1931 and 1941. There were three sub-classes but all were very similar. E el-5 was a prototype built in Germany in 1931. E el-9 was a prototype built in the Russian SFSR in 1932. E el-12 was also built in the RSFSR and went into series production. It had the highly unusual 2-Eo-1 wheel arrangement.

Engine

The

prime mover Prime mover may refer to: Philosophy *Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings Engineering * Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy ...

was a six-cylinder

four stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directi ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

. The E el-5 had a German built

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

engine giving at 450 rpm. The E el 12 had a Soviet built engine, based on the German design, giving at 425 rpm.Westwood, page 68 It is uncertain which engine was used in the E el-9.

Electrical equipment

There were five 140 kW

Brown Boveri Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 ...

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, connected in

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. Innovations in the E el-5 included forced ventilation for the traction motors,

field weakening A brushed DC electric motor is an internally Commutator (electric), commutated electric motor designed to be run from a direct current power source and utilizing an brush (electric), electric brush for electrical contact, contact. Brushed motors w ...

for high speed running and

rheostatic braking Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid ...

. The rheostatic braking was excluded from the Soviet built locomotives, to save weight, but they still weighed several tons more than the E el-5.

Disposal

None of the class is known to have been preserved.

References

Railway locomotives introduced in 1931 E el 5 ft gauge locomotives {{Russia-rail-transport-stub