Locomotives that are currently making History!

In Europe there currently exist three main constructor companies: Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom. The first two are having particular success selling in western Europe.
During the last decade Bombardier has had great success selling their TRAXX series to great railway companies such as DB Schenker, NS, MRCE,…

Two BR 185's from the TRAXX series in service for DB Schenker

Siemens has always responded with selling their ES64U2, ES64F4 and now Vectron series to various companies such as MRCE, NordCargo, ÖBB,…

ES64U2 1116 213 "Taurus" in service for the ÖBB Railjet

In the past each Federal Railway had it’s own locomotive producer, so consequently each locomotive could have easily been recognised as being used by a specific Railway company.
Today we are assisting an international Railway World, for the three producing companies are selling to companies all over Europe. Therefore today its not impossible to see the same locomotive in Hungary and in Germany.

However the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB CFF FFS) haven’t been too involved in this kind of market. It is true that they have bought 21 locomotives from Bombardier (TRAXX F140 MS2), now called Re 484 and used in Switzerland and Italy for freight trains. Being multi system locomotives, they can travel where there is ac current as well as DC current.

Re 484 012 (TRAXX) in Italy under DC current

They also bought in 2005 18 locomotives of the ES64F4 series by Siemens (Re 474). These have Italian and Swiss homologation. However they are mostly used in Italy for freight trains from and to Italy.

Re 474 (ES64F4) from SBB Cargo boarding a lake

Besides these locomotives, the Federal Railways always use two different particular locomotives:

Re 4/4 (Re 420 and Re 430)

Re 4/4 11247 carries an Interregio passing by the Swiss alps.

These are the most common locomotives in Switzerland and the most widely used. They can be used both for passenger and freight trains. When used for freight they are often paired with a Re 6/6 (Re 620) thus forming a Re 10/10 or can also be in double traction with another Re 4/4 constituting a Re 8/8.

A Re 10/10 travelling through the Swiss alps

Because a Re 420 can only carry a load of 500 tons at a maximum speed of 80 km/h and a Re 430 can reach a speed of 80 km/h with a load of 580 tons they must be paired with other locomotives to carry heavy freight trains through the alps and Gotthard. The Re 430 are modified Re 420 for higher traction but lower speed.
They were produced over a 21 year period, from 1964 to 1985 by SLM, BBC, MFO and SAAS. A Re 4/4 has a length of about 15 meters and weighs about 80 tons. They are named Re 4/4, the “R” meaning they have a maximum speed over 110 km/h and the “e” meaning electric. They are four axle locomotives.

Lateral side of the Re 4/4 11191

There have been totally produced 303 locomotives with Swiss homologation adapted for 15 kv ac current. The Re 420 have a maximum speed of 140 km/h whereas the Re 430 have a maximum speed of 125 km/h with both a power output of 4700 kW. The maximum tractive effort corresponds to 255 kN.

Initially these locomotive had a green livery. However, during the years almost all of them got the red livery with a few that got the blue “Sbb Cargo” livery and two of them (Re 4/4 11108 and 11109) that still have the white-orange Swiss Express livery.

Re 4/4 11109 in Swiss-express livery

In green livery there are still 4 locomotives:
Re 4/4 11161 (used for passenger only)
Re 4/4 11309 (used mainly for freight)
Re 4/4 11330 (used mainly for freight)
Re 4/4 11364 (used mainly for freight)

Re 10/10 with Re 4/4 11330 with green livery

From the year 2011 there have been 29 locomotives (Re 4/4 11201-11230) who have got the LION (Lifting, Integration, Optimierung, Neuausrichtung) livery and are currently used for S-Bahn passenger trains in the Region of Zurich.

Re 420 202 (Re 4/4 11202) with LION livery in Zurich

The Re 4/4 11320 got in 2009 the orange InterregioCargo livery and in 2015 the Re 4/4 11268 got the white “Gottardo 2016” livery (these two locomotives are used for freight trains).

Re 420 268 (Re 4/4 11268) with "Gottardo 2016" livery

Also, 26 locomotives (Re 4/4 11371-11397) were renamed as Re 421 (with SBB Cargo livery) and rebuilt with a new pantograph to fit German and Austrian standards. They are normally used for freight but also quite often for passenger to Bregenz and Lindau.

Re 421 379 (Re 4/4 11379) conducting a passenger train from Zurich in SBB Cargo livery

Re 6/6 (Re 620)

Re 6/6 11631 carrying a freight train

The Re 6/6 locomotives are currently exclusively used for freight only although in the past they used to carry passenger trains as well. The first were built in 1972 and the last had their construction completion in 1980 by SLM, BBC and SAAS. A total of 89 locomotives have been produced (Re 6/6 11601-11689). They can carry a maximum load of 800 tons at a speed of 80 km/h. They therefore need a second locomotive (usually a Re 4/4) to carry freight trains through the alps.

Rare sight: a Re 20/20 (two Re 6/6 and two Re 4/4 carry a heavy freight train)

They have a length of 19.3 meters and a weight of 120 tons.

Lateral view of the Re 6/6 11678

They are therefore bigger and heavier than the Re 4/4. They have been constructed with pantographs for 15kv AC current and have been built to replace the Ae 6/6. The Re 6/6 have a maximum speed of 140 km/h and a maximum tractive effort of 395 kN.

Lateral comparison between a Re 6/6 and a Re 4/4

Just like the Re 4/4, all of these locomotives were built with green livery and then got the red livery. There exist still two locomotives with the original green livery:
Re 6/6 11646
Re 6/6 11663

A rare sight: double traction in green livery (Re 6/6 11663 and Re 4/4 11330)

Just like the Re 4/4, a few locomotives got the blue SBB Cargo livery namely:
Re 6/6 11612
Re 6/6 11633
Re 6/6 11642
Re 6/6 11647
Re 6/6 11651
Re 6/6 11655
Re 6/6 11658
Re 6/6 11659
Re 6/6 11660
Re 6/6 11661
Re 6/6 11662
Re 6/6 11665
Re 6/6 11669
Re 6/6 11674
Re 6/6 11675
Re 6/6 11686
Re 6/6 11687
Re 6/6 11688 (with XRail livery)

Re 620 075 (Re 6/6 11675) in SBB Cargo livery

Each Re 6/6 is named after a town in Switzerland. Many come to Switzerland to see the power and great technology that has been put into this locomotive. It is surely the most powerful locomotive in Switzerland and most likely in Europe for it has power corresponding to 7800 kW or 7.8 mW. Such a great power seemed unreachable in the 70’s considering that modern day locomotives such as Traxx and Vectron series have power corresponding to 5600 kW to 6400 kW. Great appreciation must therefore go to the constructor companies for making this great achievement possible!

Re 6/6 11631 and Re 4/4 11246 come out of the garage as they are ready to travel

Seeing the direction the locomotive industry is taking it seems as of in the future we won’t have peculiar locomotives used only in one country such as these. However, one thing remains certain:

These Locomotives will be remembered throughout History!