Crocodile (locomotive)

Switzerland Standard gauge SBB Class Ce 6/8 The production "Crocodiles" were the series Ce 6/8II and Ce 6/8III locomotives of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), built between 1919 and 1927.) The electric motors available at the time were large and had to be body-mounted above the plane of the axles, but flexibility was required to negotiate the tight curves on the Alpine routes and tunnels. An articulated design, with two powered nose units bridged with a pivoting center section containing cabs and the heavy transformer, met both requirements and gave excellent visibility from driving cabs mounted safely away from any collision. The two motors in each nose unit were geared to a jackshaft between the drive axles farthest from the cab (SBB Ce 6/8II) or farthest from the end (SBB Ce 6/8III), with side rods carrying the power to the drivers. These locomotives, sometimes called the "Swiss Crocodile" or "SBB Crocodile", were highly successful and served until 1982. The German model railway manufacturer Märklin published a book about their history in 1984. Nine out of 51 total produced have survived, but only three are still in operation as preserved historical locomotives in Switzerland. Spain Ten locomotives similar to the ones operated in Switzerland and Austria were known as . They were operated by Ferrocarriles Vascongados and its successor companies from 1928 to 1999. == Other Crocodile-like locomotives ==

YSteC Ge 4/4 steeplecab in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland -built narrow-gauge ChS11 locomotive at Bakuriani, Georgia The articulated-body design was not unique to the Crocodiles. It was used in the United States on the Milwaukee Road class EP-2 "Bi-Polars", for example. Many more locomotives adopted the design of long noses without articulation of the body. The single Ge 4/4 of the Yverdon–Ste-Croix railway was known as the "Crocodile", despite being an elongated Bo-Bo steeplecab with articulated bogies beneath, rather than an articulated locomotive. This extended to painting it with large crocodile heads on each side. In the United Kingdom, the LNER Class ES1 featured a crocodile-like design and was built between 1902 and 1904, both locomotives remaining in service until 1966, when No.2 was scrapped and No. 1 (BR No.26500) was preserved, now on display at Shildon Locomotion Museum. The Panama Canal uses double-ended locomotives, known as 'mules', to act as land-based tugs to steer ships through the Canal's lock chambers. Furthermore, some examples of locomotives similar in design to the Crocodiles, which were manufactured by Škoda can be found on the route between Borjomi and Bakuriani in Georgia. == Notes ==