‘Maxima’
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Prototype 40 CC on display at the InnoTrans 2006, Berlin, September
2006. Photo by Tobias B. Köhler (source: www.commons.wikimedia.org).
Second
40 CC prototype, tested
by Lotos Kolej; Zduńska Wola
Karsznice, February 19, 2010.
The same locomotive and location: October 6,
2010.
An unknown 30 CC, photographed near Hersbruck, Germany, March 17, 2010. Photo by mef.ellingen (source: www.commons.wikimedia.org).
Third production 30 CC as Legios ‘General’, photographed near Louny, Czech Republic, on May 1, 2011, by Zdeněk Plachý (source: as
above). |
German Voith Turbo GmbH
& Co. KG, a division of Voith GmbH
corporation, is perhaps best known as a manufacturer of hydraulic couplings
and torque converters, widely used in locomotive industry. In 2005 the
company decided to transform from a component supplier to full vehicle
manufacturer and entered the market with two locomotive families, known under
commercial names of ‘Gravita’ and ‘Maxima’. The
first member of the latter was Maxima 40 CC, a six-axle heavy freight
locomotive. Prototype (factory number L06-30017) was outshopped
in 2006 and exhibited at the InnoTrans
international fair in Berlin. 40 CC is fitted with the ABC (Anglo-Belgian
Corporation) 16 DZC sixteen-cylinder diesel engine; with nominal rating
of 3 600 kW, or 4 900 hp, it is the most powerful
single-engined diesel locomotive ever built. Weight
in working order is 135 tonnes. In 2008 it was
joined by lighter Maxima 30 CC, which was fitted with 12 DZC diesel rated at
2 750 kW. Axle load was reduced from 22.5 to 21 tonnes.
Both these types have the same overall dimension and externally are very
similar. Third type, four-axle Maxima 20 BB, was substantially lighter and
shorter; proposed in 2008, it remained on the drawing board. Similarly,
up-rated versions of 20 BB (20 LBB) and 30 CC (30 LCC) were not proceeded
with. Commercial success of ‘Maxima’ has been rather
moderate. Production of both 40 CC and 30 CC was halted in 2010 and totaled
just thirteen and six examples, respectively. They were tested by several
railway companies, but further orders failed to materialize. Third production
30 CC (factory number L06-30003) was assembled in co-operation with Czech
company Legios,
previously known as Lostr,
a manufacturer of freight cars. Legios purchased
a manufacturing license from Voith and intended to market the locomotive as Legios
‘General’. In 2013, however, the company ran into serious financial problems
and no production has been so far undertaken. Between 2009 and 2011 second
production 40 CC (L06-30018/2008), numbered 264 002, was tested by Lotos Kolej; at that time the locomotive
remained the manufacturer’s property. Results were satisfactory, but no
orders followed. It was returned in 2011 and sold to Südleasing GmbH of Stuttgart in August 2013. Two years later it was sold
again, this time to Erfurt-based Raildox GmbH &
Co. Like other locomotives of this type, it was leased to several private
operators and was encountered in Poland sporting the liveries of NBE Rail GmbH and its Polish
subsidiary, NBE Rail Polska. Another example, 264 007 (L06-40007/2009),
operated by German A.D.E. Eisenbahnverkehrsunternehmen GmbH, was tested by Kolej Bałtycka in
2011. Main
technical data
1) Tests only. References and acknowledgments
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