The SNCF BB 16500s were a class of SNCF electric locomotives operating at a supply voltage of 25 kV single-phase 50 Hz AC.

Ordered from 1954 as part of the electrification of the radial lines from Paris to the north and east of France, a total of 294 locomotives were delivered between 1958 and 1964, which made them the most numerous class of electric locomotives put into service by the SNCF. These versatile machines operated over all the lines of the north-eastern quarter of France at the head of regional passenger trains or freight trains, descending as far as the Jura, Dole-Vallorbe, or venturing to the Channel coast at Cherbourg or Le Havre. Some locomotives also operated on the northern and eastern suburban lines of Paris. Eventually competition from more modern classes and the discomfort of their driving cabs, led to the locomotives all being withdrawn between 2001 and 2011.

Genesis of the class

In the second half of the 1950s, the Paris–Lille line was electrified with single-phase alternating current. The radial routes, from Paris to the east of France, were also electrified. The original fleet of locomotives was made up of BB 16000s, a synthesis of the driving qualities of the BB 12000s put into service between Valenciennes and Thionville in 1954 and the bodies of the BB 9200s, the first of which had been operating since 1957 on the lines linking Paris to Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

In 1954, studies for the design of a locomotive dedicated to mixed traffic service, passenger and freight, were launched under the direction of Louis Armand and Fernand Nouvion . The specifications stipulated that these 2,000 kW locomotives would have a weight of approximately , that they must only be equipped with one motor per bogie and have a double gear ratio limiting the speed to depending on the use of the machine. Alsthom 's design was finally chosen, in preference to that of MTE, manufacturer of the BB 16000s.

thumb|left|Initial proposal

A first sketch, not proceeded with, gave the locomotives an appearance quite similar to that of the BB 12000, with a single cab framed by two engine cowls of different lengths, giving the locomotive a total length of . three sets of reduction gears, with slightly different ratios, were fitted to the locomotives. The first batch, BB 16501 to BB 16654, had a suspension by elastic return legs and pivots; while the remaining locomotives, BB 16655 to BB 16794, had a pendular suspension.

294 members of the class were built in six years. They were ordered in several successive stages, as electrification progressed in the north and east. In 2021, they constitute the largest series of electric locomotives ordered by the SNCF. The class was also the first member of the BB Alsthom family which also includes 146 BB 8500 (some rebuilt as class BB 88500 or BB 8700), 105 BB 17000, 13 BB 20200 and 194 BB 25500.

Liveries

The BB 16500s carried, during their careers, a great variety of liveries, some concerning only a few locomotives, sometimes very temporarily.

The first BB 16500s left the factory were uniformly green, without any decoration. The next batch were put into service in a light bluish green livery with a "Celtic green" band at the bottom of the body but the light bluish green was quickly replaced with a darker shade. In 1970-71, and like their cousins the BB 8500, BB 17000 and BB 25500, they adopted a dark green colour enhanced with white stripes on the sides, framing the ventilation louvres, themselves painted in dark grey, a colour repeated on the fronts in the form of "moustaches". The reporting numbers were daffodil yellow. BB 16595 and BB 16625, withdrawn on 26 March 26, 2002 and 15 December 2003, were the last locomotives to have kept this livery until the end of their career.

The "concrete" livery, grey with orange bands, was used on a large number of SNCF engines from the 1980s, including 278 BB 16500s.

On an experimental basis, BB 16604 and BB 16789 were repainted between 1992 and 1998 with the "Arzens livery", composed of grey and "havana brown" for one, and grey and "garrigue green" for the other, with orange moustaches. Though not extended to any more BB 16500s, this livery was also successfully applied to many BB 9400s.

By August 2010, the use of this class was significantly reduced. There were only 15 locomotives still in circulation, providing the last loco-hauled services on the TER Picardie and TER Nord-Pas-de-Calais lines. In September 2010, the last 9 locomotives were withdrawn. The last member of the class, BB 16651, was withdrawn on 9 September 2011 from Lens depot after having worked its last train on 1 September.

Lines served

  • Paris-Nord - Beauvais
  • Paris-Est - Château-Thierry - Châlons-sur-Marne
  • Paris-Est - Coulommiers
  • Paris Est - Meaux
  • Apach - Thionville - Woippy ( freight trains )
  • Nancy - Thionville
  • Nancy - Luneville
  • Nancy - Epinal - Remiremont
  • Nancy - Saint-Die-des-Vosges
  • Nancy - Bar-le-Duc
  • Metz - Saarburg
  • Strasbourg - Selestat
  • Strasbourg - Mulhouse
  • Mulhouse - Altkirch - Belfort
  • Lille - Valenciennes
  • Valenciennes - Aulnoye
  • Valenciennes - Cambrai
  • Sedan - Charleville-Mézières - Reims - Epernay
  • Charleville-Mézières - Longwy
  • Amiens - Creil
  • Paris Nord - Amiens
  • Creil - Compiègne - Saint-Quentin - Busigny
  • Arras - Dunkirk station
  • Lille-Flanders - Dunkirk
  • Lille-Flanders - Arras
  • Basel - Mulhouse
  • Bondy – Aulnay-sous-Bois, before its conversion into a tram-train line (line T4)
  • Mulhouse - Dole
  • Dole - Vallorbe and Frasne - Pontarlier
  • Chalindrey - Toul

Depot allocation

  • Achères (November 1998 to 2006)
  • La Chapelle (December 1958 to 2008)
  • Dolé (1963 to February 1968)
  • Épernay (1981 to 2010), main workshop for the class
  • Hellemmes (1958 to 1980), main workshop for the class
  • Lens (1958 to 2011)
  • Strasbourg (July 1958 to 2009)
  • Thionville (1993 to 2010)
  • La Villette (June 1962 to 2003)

Experimental locomotives

BB 16540 was rebuilt into BB 20004 from 1959 to 1969, as a prototype "small dual-current" locomotive (more powerful under alternating current than under direct current); it then worked trains on the “Étoile de Savoie” lines which radiate around La Roche-sur-Foron. It was returned to the class at the end of its test period and regained its initial number.

thumb|BB 16592 at the head of an RRR set at Amiens

BB 16515, BB 16549 (withdrawn in November 2007), BB 16550, BB 16575 (withdrawn in December 2006) and BB 16592 (withdrawn in December 2009) were marshalled between two stainless steel RRR push-pull fitted sets. The disadvantage of their discomfort was thus circumvented, the driver's cabs not being used in normal service. These “dromedary trains”, so called because the loco formed the camel's hump in the middle of the train, were put into service on the TER Picardie line between Paris and Beauvais. The locomotives were repainted with a service-specific livery. Since 2007 the operation of dromedary trains was abandoned with the arrival of more modern TER multiple-unit trains. The locomotives and stainless steel trains then resumed service in classic configuration on other TER Picardie routes.

thumb|Silhouette of CC 10002.

16655 was delivered directly in 1961 as a CC 10002 prototype intended for the development of a lightweight single-engine type C bogie (three driving axles driven by the single motor of the bogie by a gear train), used on a class of Finnish diesel-electric locomotives then later on the CC 40100s, CC 72000s, CC 6500s and CC 21000s of the SNCF. It was rebuilt as a class BB 16500 under its initial number in 1970.

Scheduled for automatic coupling tests, BB 16700 was equipped for this purpose with a reinforced and elongated frame and end caps, which it kept until it was scrapped in 2007.

Between 1988 and 1990, BBs 16780 to 16784 were equipped with a multiplexing device allowing ore trains to be hauled by three locomotives distributed along the convoy and controlled by the leading locomotive thanks to a cable which transmitted the information. The principle was subsequently modified (1990-1993), with the information being transmitted from one locomotive to another by radio. The experiment was renewed in 1998-1999 with BB 16781 and 16782 with the aim of running very long, , and very heavy, , trains. The experiment did not lead to concrete achievements and the locomotives returned to their normal duties. this association has also saved a cab from BB 16517.

  • BB 16745 is parked under the Mohon rotunda, annex of the Mulhouse train museum. Over the weekend of 9 and 10 June 2018, this locomotive was baptized Magenta. None of the class had carried names during their time in revenue service.

Disposal to third parties

Three locomotives, BB 16546, BB 16612 and BB 16654, operated by SNCF Fret, were sold to Romanian railway operator Regiotrans, now Regio Călători, in 2008, for use on freight trains.

BB 16571 hauled the 1961 ORTF Christmas train between Lille and Paris, producing a live broadcast alternating sketches and songs on board and in the stations of Lille Flandres, Arras and Paris Nord, presented by Jean Nohain on board and Catherine Langeais in Paris.

BB 16665 appears at the beginning of the film Deux Hommes dans la ville, directed by José Giovanni in 1973.

References

Notes

Bibliography