The first 3-phase dual catenary locomotive Ganz delivered to the Italian
Valtellina line in 1902. The shape and dual cab structure was copied from
the American B&O electric locomotive. This loco has direct drive wheelsets
- like the B&O one too.
The same locomotive today, in the "Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Technology"
in Milan. The engine is in quite good shape, but probably without machinery.
The manufacturer's plates are missing, probably removed during the WW1, when
Hungary and Italy were enemies.
The Ganz 3-phase electric railcar delivered for the Valtellina line.
The last locomotive Ganz delivered for the Valtellina line, and the last
one for long time Ganz manufactured at all. As the Valtellina electrification
was unsuccessful as business, Ganz managers decided to fully withdraw from
railway electrification. This locomotive is the first showing Mr. Kandó's
invention, the slot drive. The two traction motors drive a horizontal rod,
that is equipped with a vertical slot, allowing the driver's crankpin to
move vertically. Later the Swiss manufacturer SLM purchased the licence of
this drive and produced many locomotives using this solution, mainly for
the Swiss narrow gauge lines.
The
"Cinquanta", E555, Mr. Kandó designed in 1905 as chief engineer of
the "Italian Westinghouse Locomotive Company" for the famous Giovi line near
Genova. The rod drive is similar to the former locomotive. The "Cinquantas"
were used long time in Italy, well in the '60s.
One
"Cinquanta" today in the "Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Technology" in Milan.
The "Trenta" 1-C-1 passenger 3-phase electric loco for the Italian lines.
At the time of its construction, this engine had the highest power to weight
ratio in the world.
The phase splitter machine of the Austrian engines. As constructed for 16Hz,
its size is considerably larger than those of the 50Hz locomotives' phase
splitter. Due to its large size the stator is cooled by air, not by putting
into oil bath. This caused its failure in the wet air of the Arlberg tunnel.
The first experimental phase converter locomotive, built in 1924. Mr Kandó
learned from the problems of the Italian 3-phase electrification, and promoted
the single phase industrial frequency (50Hz) electrification in Hungary.
This was the first locomotive using the phase converter technology. This
also used Mr. Kandó's new invention, the "Kandó-triangle" that
replaced the maintenance-hungry slot drive.
The second experimental locomotive, built in 1926 on the frame of the first
one - but in opposite direction: look at the opposite placement of the triangle.
This version had a 4-pole phase converter, that rotated only 1500RPM, instead
of the 3000RPM of the former model. This model is already equipped with
conventional pantographs. The loco became later MÁV Class V50, but
it was scrapped in 1936, when already enough V40s were available.
The phase splitter of the experimental loco inside the cooling oil bath.
Compare the size of this 50Hz machine with those of the Austrian 16Hz one.
The phase splitter of the final Kandó loco without oil tank.
Kandó's mainline phase converter loco, the V40. 22 of them were built.
They operated until 1970. These engines used 16kV 50Hz catenary. As the
Budapest-Hegyeshalom line was rebuilt with 25kV since, the Kandó locos
cannot operate anywhere in Hungary.
The freight version, the V60. Only 3 of them were built as the V40s performed
well for freight trains.
The V40's rod drive. the locos have one large, 10' diameter 48 pole asynchronous
multiphase traction motors in the center. This drives the wheels through
the slanted main rod. The other slanted rod goes to the auxiliary shaft,
that forwards the main rod force's vertical component to the opposite side
as horizontal component.
The cab side of the V40. Below the cab there is the auxiliary air reservoir.
The other side. below the main air reservoir. You can see the large main
traction motor through the window.
The other front. The sun shade around the windows was not available on the
first engines, but gave a very characteristic appearance for the Kandó
locos.
Front view. The headlights weren't integrated first, they were plugged on,
like on the steam locos. The footplate is necessary to clean the windows.
The ladder serves for climbing on the roof.
The other front. The main air reservoir is large, hard to model.
Below the cab. The pot on the left side is the brake cylinder. It is mounted
vertically, and pulls the brake rigging through a bell crank.
The opposite side, with the auxiliary air reservoir.
The drivers. In the center the rotating small rod is part of the
lubrication system.
The roof. The radiator on the top of the large diameter traction motor is
well visible.
The other side. On the left side the small lever is a switch, that shorts
the overhead system to the earth, when the roof ladder will be opened. This
is the security mechanism to avoid the driver to climb up until the loco
is connected to the 16kV supply.
The other end of the roof.
A better view on the roof. The white projection behind the pantograph is
the fan on the top of the phase converter. The phase converter had a separate
cooling system.
The other roof end. The "stack" is where the steam of the fluid resistor
escapes. On the right side the main switch is well visible. It was operated
by a simple isolated rod from the cab.
The cab inside. That time everything was made from nice brass castings. The
phase converter loco was rather hard to drive due to the rigid synchronization
steps. Between the steps an automatic equipment filled the fluid resistor
according the traction motor's power.
The
successor of the V40, the V44. It had not only phase converter, but a frequency
converter too. The wheelsets were driven by simple three phase traction motors
and Sècheron-drive. Two of these engines were built in 1944, but they
were destroyed during the bombardments of Budapest.
The
after WW2 converter engine, the Class V55. It had a modern truck-drive
with nose suspended 3-phase induction motors. The axle arrangement is rather
unusual, BoCo, with one four-wheel truck and one six-wheel one. This was
necessary to limit the axle load resulted by the heavy phase splitter and
frequency converter machines. For the same reason the body was built with
a "monocoque" construction, one of the first of this principles in Europe.
20 of these machines were built, including the two prototypes, that have
different appearance, with three front windows and a center door on the front.
Due to the poor quality materials that were available in Hungary in the early
'50s, they were rather unreliable machines.
Back to the Scratchbuilding Main Page
This page was updated last time on 13th February 1999
© János Erö