SM25
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SM25-002 (Fablok 5427/1962), photographed
at the
Another photo of this machine, taken on
SM25 prototype side drawing by M.Ćwikła
(source: SK
vol.9/2001).
SM25-001, location and date unknown (looks like a
factory photo). Photo from my collection.
SM25-002 after external refurbishment: Stacja
Muzeum (former Railway Museum),
Warsaw, July 6, 2023. |
Design of the first Polish diesel
locomotive with electric transmission, designated 1D, was completed in 1955
and prototype, with factory designation Ls300, was rolled out in 1956.
Production both for PKP (classed LWe55, later SM30) and industry
lasted until 1970 and totaled over 900 examples. SM30 has been widely used as
a light switcher, sometimes also with light local trains, despite being
neither modern nor entirely satisfactory. In particular, at an early stage it
was argued that hydraulic transmission was more suitable for light and medium
diesel locomotives. It was therefore decided to build such machine, as a
possible future replacement for SM30. In fact, attempts to produce light
diesel locomotives with hydraulic transmission were undertaken before the
war, but prototypes were not completed until September 1939. Hydraulic torque
converters were not manufactured in Construction of the prototype with factory designation 9D (s/n 5030/1961, PKP class SM25), fitted with Voith L26/St/V-03 transmission gear, began at Fablok in January 1960 and was completed in mid-1961. Tests were performed between July and December 1961 and results were considered basically satisfactory. Reservations concerned mainly the prime mover: power was provided by the Wola 1DVSa/31 V12 unit rated at 350 hp, a slightly improved variant of the engine used in SM30, which was certainly obsolescent. More modern, medium speed diesel engines, more suitable for this type of transmission, were then still under development. There were also some remarks concerning several minor items of equipment, but new locomotive was obviously superior to SM30: tractive effort at startup increased from 7 960 to 13 800 kG despite only marginally higher power. Due to three axles in the C layout (power transmitted via an idle shaft and side rods) instead of Bo’Bo’ in SM30, axle load was higher (12.4 tonnes), despite slightly lower weight, but SM25 was still suitable for weak secondary tracks. First prototype SM25-001 was
followed by SM25-002 (Fablok
5427/1962), accepted by PKP in December 1962, and SM25-003 (Fablok
5428/1963) in July 1963. All three examples were based in Kraków
and used mainly for switching. Their fate was, however, doomed by the fact
that no Polish manufacturer was then able to produce hydraulic torque
converters, which were very demanding from the technological point of view,
and import for series production was out of question. Three SM25s spent most
of their service lives awaiting spares, which were always in short supply; no
wonder, thus, that they were withdrawn pretty soon. SM25-001 was written off
in late 1970 and SM25-003 followed only a few months later; it ended up in a
gravel mine and was finally scrapped in 1976. SM25-002 was withdrawn from PKP
service in late 1973 and handed over to the SFA bus factory in Sanok, but it is not clear if it was ever brought there.
In September 1980 it was finally transferred to the Next – and final – attempt to introduce hydraulic transmission in Polish diesel locomotives came in 1963, when two 750 hp Soviet TGM3s were purchased and their license production (55 examples) began at Fablok. These machines, designated SM15, were fitted with imported engines and transmission gears. They soon proved extremely unreliable and last of them survived in service only until 1978. Electric transmission thus remained the sole alternative and in 1966 prototype 401D light switcher appeared, with axle arrangement similar to that of SM25, but fitted with electric transmission (first and third driven axles with side rods). It finally entered production as 401Da (with more modern license-built Henschel engine), supplanting the obsolete SM30, but has never been ordered by PKP. Main
technical data
1)
Master / articulated connecting rods. List of
vehicles can be found here. References
and acknowledgments
-
Monographic article by Paweł
Terczyński (SK
vol. 9/2001); -
www.ilostan.forumkolejowe.pl.
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