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Paul Somer Comments
Here are some pictures of our oldest diesel shunters i took in Eindhoven the Netherlands. These 47 ton diesel shunters were build in the late 40's and some are still in active service!
Some information about this class 600 diesel shunter.
These medium-duty shunters are based on an English design of English Electric. The first (similar) locomotives came to The Netherlands during and directly after the second world war (War Department locomotives), and NS decided to buy quite a lot of them. The maximum speed of the locomotives is 30km/h, but only 16km/h when hauled by other locomotives. This makes transportation of a locomotive from one site to the other very time consuming. With the traction motors de-coupled they can be transported at 65km/h.
Many large stations and yards where locomotive-hauled passenger trains end or start have a shunter of class 600. The shunters with the numbers 671-693 have been rebuilt from the series 601-665 with radio remote control. These could previously mainly be found in the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, but now also in the rest of the country like the one i found in Eindhoven.
NS-Cargo (freight operation) had the intention to scrap all the remaining shunters of this class in 1998, replacing them by the much larger locomotives class 6400. But with the introduction of more hauled InterCity trains the need for these shunters by NS Reizigers (passenger service) is growing. Since January 1998 7 stored shunters have entered service again.
Some information about this little diesel shunter. To make shunting somewhat easier than it was using steam locomotives, the Dutch Railways decided in the 1930s to buy small diesel locomotives. After a few small series this large class was born. The tiny "locomotors", nicknamed "Sik" ("Goat", because of their whistle), are still used on light shunting duties and for light track maintenance trains all over the network. They also have exterior control levers for easy shunting operation.
About 15 locomotives have been fitted with a HIAB telescopic crane behind the cab which folds over the top of the locomotive when not in use. These locomotives are especially used on engineering trains.
Although they are already very old, approx. 25 locomotives were still in use in June 2000. They have been divided between the different operating companies within the NS holding and some new infrastructure companies.
Class 1200 was based on an American design by Baldwin/Westinghouse. It was introduced in 1951 and for many years they were the prime series used for hauling the long-distance NS InterCity passenger trains. In May 1998 the last locomotives of this class have been taken out of service by NS, replaced by class 1600 for freight trains. In May 1999 five locomotives of this class were sold to private operator ACTS and these are now in service again after maintenance. They are numbered 1251-1255 and are used to haul container trains between Rotterdam and Onnen (Groningen) or Leeuwarden, and between Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
General information about Railion:
Railion Benelux used to be known as NS-Cargo, and is the former freight operating arm of the Dutch Railways NS. NS-Cargo has now been merged with DB Cargo (Germany) and DSB Gods (Denmark) into Railion.Railion Benelux still operates most of the freight trains in The Netherlands. For this they use electric locomotives, diesel locomotives and diesel shunters. Most of the freight is focused on the port of Rotterdam, although also the port of Amsterdam gets its share of freight.
Last Updated - 15 Oct 2002
