Locomotive, Diesel, SNCF A1A A1A 68000

History: The A1A A1A 68000 is a series of 6-axle A'1A'-A'1A' diesel-electric locomotives commissioned by the French state railway SNCF. Initially ordered in June 1961, they were delivered between July 1963 and August 1968. A total of 109 units have been produced. According to practice of that time, SNCF was the main designer and the locomotives were manufactured by a variety of sub-contractors, with final assembly at Compagnie des Ateliers et Forges de la Loire (CAFL) in Saint-Chamond, Loire, France. These are multi-purpose locomotives, that can be used for passenger service as well as freight. They can be coupled between themselves in multi-unit, as well as with BB 67000 locomotives, with which they share a number of components.

Power output: 2,700 hp
They were equipped with a steam generator for passenger heating.

There are actually 2 sub-series which differ by their diesel engine, and were manufactured in parallel:
- BB 68000 - (68001 to 68081) - with engine Sulzer 12 LVA 24
- BB 68500 - (68501 to 68529) - with engine AGO 12 cylinders
Due to spare engines availability, several 68000 have been transformed into 68500, and vice-versa, by replacing the engine type by the other one (68082 to 68085, 68529 to 68540).
All locomotives of this series have been retired as of 2014.

The above description has been created specifically for TroveStar N scale database by Alain LM, as summary in English of the following French publication:
Source: Le Train. Encyclopédie du matériel moteur SNCF. Tome 7: Locomotives, locomoteurs et locotracteurs Diesel (2e partie). ISSN 1296-5537. Olivier Constant. Septembre 2010.

Railroad/Company: This set of items is comprised of more than one name. Please look at the component items for details on the specific roadnames and/or manufacturers.