Product Features and Details
Prototype: French State Railways (SNCF) class BB 12 000. Built starting in 1954. Road number BB 12061. Use: Freight trains.
Model: Era III. The locomotive has an NEM 8-pin digital connector. The locomotive frame and body are die-cast metal. The locomotive has separately applied metal grab irons. It has also has the original dual headlight / dual red marker light changeover. The headlights are warm white LED's. The locomotive has a powerful 5-pole motor with a flywheel. 4 axles powered. 2 traction tires. The locomotive has NEM coupler pockets. Length over the buffers 175 mm / 6-7/8".
Between 1954 and 1961 around 200 locomotives of the mechanically identical classes BB 12 000 and BB 13 000 were purchased for the SNCF's newly built AC power network that was built starting in 1950. Due to their unusual look, they quickly acquired the nickname "Flat Iron" in France. In other countries they are known as the "French Crocodile" - even if they do not have pivoting hoods like their "contemporaries" in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. The difference between the two classes was the type of propulsion. While the BB 13 000 was equipped with AC traction motors, the BB 12 000 had DC motors. Due to its better performance figures for the same weight, the DC version prevailed in the subsequent period. With an authorized maximum speed of 120 km/h / 75 mph and electric train heating, the "Flat Iron" was also suitable as motive power for passenger trains; its main area of use was however freight trains. The last units of the BB 12000 were retired in 2003.
