MÁV Class M44 is a Hungarian shunting engine built from 1954 to 1971, and used by multiple railways, including

Hungarian State Railways The Hungarian State Railways (, , formally MÁV Magyar Államvasutak Zártkörűen Működő Részvénytársaság (MÁV Zrt.). The full official name of the company is MÁV-csoport () now commonly known as MÁV) is the Hungary, Hungarian natio ...

(MÁV),

Polish State Railways The Polish State Railways ( , abbr.: PKP S.A.) is a Polish state-owned holding company (legally a sole-shareholder company of the State Treasury) comprising the rail transport holdings of the country's formerly dominant namesake railway oper ...

(PKP),

Bulgarian State Railways The Bulgarian State Railways (, abbreviated as БДЖ, BDZ or BDŽ) are Bulgaria's state railway company and former largest railway carrier in the country, established as an entity in 1888. The company's headquarters are located in the capital So ...

(BDŽ),

Yugoslav Railways Yugoslav Railways (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенске железнице, Jugoslovenske železnice, separator=" / "; ; ), with standard acronym ( in Cyrillic), was the state railway company of Yugoslavia, operational from the 1920s to t ...

(JŽ), and some industrial railways in the former countries of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. All versions used the Ganz–Jendrassik XVI Jv 170/240 V16 4-stroke naturally aspirated diesel engine producing 600 HP (420 kW).

History

The Hungarian railway system was in a very bad shape after the ending of the war, and modernisation became important for MÁV. Ganz has built 2 generator locomotives for the suburban electrified railways during the war. MÁV needed a heavy shunting locomotive to replace the previously used old and obsolete steam locomotives, with relatively high power and acceleration. Ganz has designed a diesel electric locomotive with the then-biggest series built engine made by them, the Ganz XVI Jv 170/240. The first 2 prototypes were built in 1954, and they got the designation M424 5001 and 5002. After the good results of the tests, mass production had started. Other railways bought from this design, with similar results. After nearly 70 years, the original prototypes are still operational, and the class is still in active service, albeit with decreasing numbers.

References

SM40/41
*Translated from the Hungarian article.

History

References

See also