Electric locomotive 140

The Ministry of Transport of Czechoslovakia ordered new electric locomotives for ČSD at the Skoda enterprise already in 1946 ^[1] . It was decided that advanced technical solutions that were already available abroad would be used, so licenses for the production of individual components of locomotives were acquired from the Swiss firms Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik and Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron . The license was based on the design elements of the electric locomotive Ae 4/4 , a prototype of which was released in 1944 ^[1] . In 1953, a prototype of an electric locomotive, designated E 499.001, was released from the factory gates and sent to the Prague railway junction , which were electrified in the 1920s at a voltage of 1500 V DC. An electric locomotive could realize only half of the capacity there, so soon he was sent to the Zilina - Vrutky section, where there was already a line electrified with a direct current of 3000 volts. For further testing, the first electric locomotive and the second, already built by that time (factory series 12E2 ) were sent to Poland, where at that time there was already a large electrified landfill. Without any problems, electric locomotives could hit 100 thousand kilometers each, after which, on December 4, 1954, they returned to Czechoslovakia, to the locomotive depot of the main station of Prague , and in 1956 to the depot Zilina.

Serial production of electric locomotives continued at the Škoda plant in parallel with the release of locomotives until 1958 ^[1] .

The body of an electric locomotive of the 140 series carriage layout with two driver's cabs at the ends of the locomotive rests on two two-axle bogies . The entrance to the driver's cab in the door located on the left in the direction of travel. On the side walls of the engine room on each side there are 6 rather large round windows.

All four wheelsets have six-pole traction motors that do not have compensation windings. TEDs are mounted on the frame of the trolley, the transmission of the wheelset to the wheelset takes place through the Sesheron plate clutch and one-way gear transmission. Traction motors of one bogie are cooled by one motor-fan ^[1] .

Power control is performed by rearrangement of the connections of electric motors (serial and parallel of two groups of 2 engines each) and due to the rheostats located on the roof. On the roof of the locomotive there are two pantograph type pantographs . Control voltage - 48 volts. The driver controller has 48 positions, of which 10 are with a weakening field ^[1] .

The pneumatic system of the locomotive is fed by two K1 compressors, the air supply is stored in two main tanks with a total capacity of 930 liters. Four brake cylinders with a diameter of 12 inches provide braking locomotive. Sand stock in sandboxes - 320 kg ^[1] .

Originally, the 140 series locomotives were sent to all locomotive depots that experienced the need for electric locomotives. They were originally assigned to the depot of the main Prague station, the depot of Usti nad Labem , the depot of Nymburk station . Further, at different times, they were operated in the locomotive depot stations of Ceska Trebova , Ostrava , Zilina , Spisska Nova Ves and Košice . In the mid-1980s, all electric locomotives were in the Czech Silesia , Moravia and Slovakia .

Initially it was assumed that the electric locomotive will be universal and will be able to serve both passenger and freight trains. These expectations did not come true, but they became good locomotives for both fast passenger and light freight trains.

This series of locomotives was actively exploited until the late 1980s, mainly with long-distance trains accelerated by postal trains. In 1978, 27 series 150 electric locomotives were delivered specifically to serve passenger trains on the Prague - Košice route, which received the designation E 499.2001 on ČSD, but all the intact 140 series electric locomotives remained in operation. In the 1980s, the gradual ousting of locomotives from work began with the supply of electric locomotives of the 162 and 163 series. After 1988, all the cars that were in poor technical condition at that moment were set aside from work. In the early 1990s, an emergency case occurred in Slovakia with one of the electric locomotives. During the investigation of the case and the subsequent checks of other vehicles, structural defects on the crew part of some of them were revealed. In the Czech Republic, electric locomotives were removed from work much faster than in Slovakia, in the late 1990s only two electric locomotives remained in the Olomouc depot. In Slovakia, they remain at work in the depot илиilina and Košice. In 2004 and 2005, three electric locomotives were operated in Poland on newly electrified lines. And currently, six 140 series electric locomotives are used by the Polish logistics company Chem Trans Logistic (three under the original designation and three under the designation ET13 ).

The 140 series electric locomotives were the first large post-war series of locomotives of the plant in Pilsen. Cooperation with the Swiss manufacturers of locomotives made it possible to make a technical leap, which made these electric locomotives competitive and provided the groundwork for decades to come.

Electric locomotives of the factory series 22E2, 24E0 and 41E, the construction of which is based on 12E, were supplied to North Korea (22E2) and the Soviet Union (24E0 and 41E; in the USSR, electric locomotives were designated ChS1 - Ch exo from Lovac production, type 1 ).