SBB Ce 6/8 III if you get the chance to video that one too maybe highlight the differentiating points between this, from the looks primarily passenger train locomotive and the SBB Ce 6/8 III which at its heart is a freight locomotive and maybe even a tour of SBB Ae 8/14

One of the two operational Ce 6/8 III is located in Olten, I couldn't show too much as almost all Machinery is located in the two Hoods, except for the High Voltage Equipment (Main Breaker, Transformer, Tap Changer). The Ae 3/6 II and both Types of Crocodiles have very similar Main Switches and Tap Changers, as all were built with MFO Electric Components. Probably the most important Factor regarding Passengers and Freight is the Gear Ratio between Motors and Jackshafts. Regarding the Ae 8/14 am I also "planning" to make a Video about the Buchli Drive, but probably either about an Ae 4/7 or an Ae 3/6 I. The Ae 4/7 of Club Mikado 1244 in Brugg has the Advantage, that they also have an excellent Model of a Buchli-Drive there, while an Ae 3/6 I (the brown one) is located at SBB Historic Lausanne, right next to the Ae 3/6 III. That would allow a direct Comparison of the Buchli and Westinghouse Drives, and by extent also Siderods on the Example of the Ae 3/6 II.

@@Genius_at_Work Ui das klingt ja Hoch- Spannend. Da warte ich doch gerne bis die Planung Früchte trägt und die Videos veröffentlicht sind 😁

@@Genius_at_Work und die Wiederstandsbremse für die Abfahrt am Gotthard

@HrLBolle Das kann bei mir schonmal mehrere Jahre dauern. An dem Video hier war ich seit 2021 dran, aber weil in Olten nur drei mal pro Jahr gefahren wird und ich zu diesen Terminen bis diesem Oktober nie Zeit hatte hat das halt gedauert. was bei den geplanten Videos noch hinzu kommt ist, dass ich die höchstwahrscheinlich mit Voiceover einsprechen werde, oder womöglich sogar mal wieder versuche vor der Kamera zu reden (hat bislang immer super geklappt, siehe mein Video von der Rendbsurger Schwebefähre). Voiceover-Videos habe ich in den letzten Jahren überhaupt nur fertige bekommen, wenn ich irgendeine Art "Deadline" dahinter hatte; bei der Rendsburger Schwebefähre wollte ich zügig nach der Neueröffnung veröffentlichen, um das erhöhte Interesse mitzunehmen, und beim Dampfschiff Stadt Luzern musste ich bei der SGV anfragen und wollte dementsprechend auch halbwegs zügig Ergebnisse vorweisen können. Vor ein paar Wochen gab's ja ein Video von Practical Enginnering über verschiedene Typen von Eisenbahnwaggons, ich wollte eigentlich was ähnliches über Frachtschiffe machen. leider hatte ich in den letzten Wochen einfach zu viel wichtigeres zu tun, um dazu zu kommen (Voiceover Videos sind sehr viel mehr Arbeit, als einfach texte einblenden). Komplett ohne Deadline komm ich leider meistens zu nichts, ich hab auf meine Festplatte noch unbearbeitete Aufnahmen von einem Geothermiekraftwerk in Island, der Wuppertaler Schwebebahn, den Maschinenräumen von U 995 und U 2540 und für ein verbessertes Video von der Dampfmaschine in Schlieren; ähnlich meinem Video vom Dampfschiff Stadt Luzern. Bei allen ist's die übliche Leier von einem Skript das ich ständig ändere, und gelegentlichen halbherzigen Voiceover-Aufnahmeversuchen. Ich brauche die Deadlines einfach, um irgendwann mal Skript und Aufnahmen für gut zu befinden anstatt ständig was verbessern zu wollen.

Swiss technology was very much sought after back then and it still is!

Speaking as Marine Engineer, WinGD (formerly Sulzer) is the 2nd largest Designer of large, slow RPM Two Stroke Diesels. Sulzer used to be global market Leader in that Business, but was eventually overtaken by Burmeister & Wain from Denmark. Sulzer was bought by the Finnish Wärtsilä Conglomerate in the 1990ies, and Burmeister & Wain was bought by the German MAN in the 1980ies. In both Cases, the Two Stroke Departments remained in Winterthur/Copenhagen though, effectively keeping the accroding Engines Swiss/Danish Engineering. Because such Engines are too large to be transported to the Shipyards (especially from Winterthur, as that would require Road or Rail Transportation), they are built by licensed Companies near the Shipyards, such as Doosan, Hyundai, Kawasaki or Mitsubishi; or even by the Shipyards themselves. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also designs their own Two Stroke Diesel Engines, but Mitsubishi is negligibly small compared to MAN B&W and WinGD.

You could look through the ‘engine room’ on a Class 86/7 or 90 and pretty much see an almost identical set of kit, just arranged differently - and traction motors would be bogie mounted. Fascinating to watch, especially amused by the side rids to drive the wheels 😏

Side Rods were quite common back the for the Suspension Reasons stated in the Video. The 1920ies saw the Introduction of flexible Drivetrains such as the Westinghouse Drive of the Ae 3/6 ''' in the Video, or the Buchli Drive of the Ae 3/6'. Bogie Motors as we know them today didn't come up in AC Locomotives until the 1930ies, with the Be 4/4 in Switzerland or the Class E 44 in Germany, which uses the same 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz System as Switzerland (and so do Austria, Sweden and Norway).

The best quality ever!!! Even better than AEG and SIEMENS of the same time!

I always recommend the Schynige Platte Bahn near Interlaken. It's a historic Rack Railway with excellent Views around the Alpine Scenery, including the Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau Mountains. It certainly is much better than the nearby Jungfrau Railway, which just devolved into an overpriced and overcrowded Tourist Trap. If you just like to experience that sort of Altitude, better go to the Gornergrat Railway or the Engelberg-Titlis Cable Car, both climb to 3000+ m too. My Favourite Railway in Switzerland is the Bremgarten-Dietikon Bahn near Zürich though. It's a small Narrow Gauge Railway in the under-appreciated (Tourism-wise) Swiss Plateau, and is used mostly by Commuters. It has nice Scenic Views when climbing the Mutschellen Pass plus it passes the nice Town of Bremgarten, the latter can be seen in my "Historic Hydro Power Station"-Video. Two other nice ones are the Waldenburgerbahn and Birsigthalbahn in the Basel Area. The Waldenburgerbahn in the Swiss Jura used to be the only Swiss 750 mm gauge Railway until it was rebuilt and now resembles more of a Tram. The Birsigthalbahn in the Sundgau is even more Tram-like, as it continues as Tram inside Basel. The Sundgau is a mostly French Region and only small Parts of it are in Switzerland, and the Birsigthalbahn partially passes through France too. Here's some Cab Footage of these Railways: Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn Wohlen-Bremgarten-Dietikon: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z8yfi92FtNPKZmw.htmlsi=glt38SCLt0qOzkJ4 Waldenburgerbahn Waldenburg-Liestal: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rc9obKqqsb-XoI0.htmlsi=Tk8aK_xf6X5AMiI3 Birsigthalbahn Rodersdorf-Basel Heuwaage kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jtt9n9qZvZy9has.html

Brown Boveri, Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, Escher Wyss, SLM, Sulzer, Rieter ....Switzerland had many high tech companies making even nuclear reactors

It's actually a bit "unrealistic": The Traction Motor Blower was stopped when I recorded the Traction Motors. I was standing in the Auxilary Equipment Room when recording, and the 220 V Supply was switched off for Safety Reasons. Similarly, I recorded the Auxilary Equipment partially from Cab #2 (Transformer Oil Cooler) and partially from the Traction Motor Room (Compressor). During the latter, the Traction Motor Room obviously had to be powerless. This clear Division of the Machinery Spaces is what allowed me to make this Video at all; other Locomotives would have been restricted to mounting GoPro Cameras in the Machinery Room when the Pantographs are down, and then leaving them unattended.

Swiss Electric Locomotives did that well into the 1970ies

It isn't higher than any other Swiss Locomotive. It just looks like, because the Frame is unusually high due to the Jackshaft Position, and the Body thus is a bit "flat". The Position of the Front End Doors show that really well; they match up exactly with the Doors on Passenger Cars and the lower end of the Door is below the Locomotive Body.

Must be safe for heavy snow on tracks

@@Schlipperschlopper Having the motors up inside the carbody is definitely a good idea for snow country!

that's interesting@@Genius_at_Work

@@SteamCrane That's one of the Reasons why Sweden/Norway had their Dm2 (Sweden) and El 12 (Norway) Locomotives built with Siderods as late as the 1950ies, to haul heavy Ore Trains over the Malmbanan Line far north of the Arctic Circle. Plus Siderods are much less likely to suffer Wheelslip, IIRC that was the main Reason for the Design Choice, as Motors mounted high up also is possible with Designs such as the Buchli Drive or Westingouse Drive.

DC usually works by changing the Motors between all serial (slowest) to all parallel (fastest) Setting, with Resistors for smoother Acceleration. All Swiss Tram Systems (Zürich, Geneva, Basel, Bern today, many more before) use DC, as well as many Narrow Gauge and Rack Railways. They all were controlled like that, until Semiconductor-controlled Triple Phase AC Motors came up in the 1990ies. Today, pretty much all Trams, Trains and Trolleybuses are controlled that Way.

> 17 steps seems like a pretty good method of speed control. Tap changer is an obsolete method, even with 33 taps instead of 17. More modern e-loks (thyristor, GTP, IGBT) don't use it.

@@etomcat They didn't have any semiconductors back then, this was actually a good solution, expect it did better than you think. And it was rugged.

@@SteamCrane Amtrak trains in the USA still use tap changing along the NEC. While speed control is solid state because they are modern Siemens locos, the NEC is not all one voltage because its been electrified in parts by different RRs for over 100 years. So 12kv and 25kv sections exist as well as 60hz and 25hz. So rather than rebuild the electrical infrastructure they got trains that can just use whatever power they have.

@@filanfyretracker While that as well requires changing taps on transformer, it is not used for regulation of speed/force.

Thanks, making this Video has taken me 3+ Years, although most of that was spent on simply waiting, but that allowed me to research thoroughly. I first had to wait until I got my High Voltage Certificate (unrelated to KZfaq, I need that for my Job) which allows me to go anywhere near Electrical Machinery like that at all, and then had to wait until I could record. These little driving around the Depot "Events" in Olten happen 3 Times per Year only, and I was notoriously occupied on these Days. It was just a Matter of a few Hours and I would have missed the last Event for 2023 and then would have had to delay the Video another 8+ Months.

As far as I know it's mostly a European thing the Only American Electric Locomotives like that were a Handful of Pennsylvania Railroad and Norfolk & Western electric's from the 1920s

The PRR GG1 use the same Westinghouse Drive as the Ae 3/6''' that you can briefly see here. An Oddity in some American Electric Locomotives is no Mechanical Drive at all; the Rotor of the Traction Motors is just part of the Axle. That Design has multiple Disadvantages though, the Wheels still are suspended and to allow Movement, the Air Gap between Stator and Rotor is ridiculously large making the Motors inefficient. Plus the Rotor adds a lot of unsprung Mass to the Wheelsets, causing excessive Wear to Wheels and Rails and making the Locomotives ride unstable.

Sweden and Norway too, their early Adoption led to all five agreeing to standardise on 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz. The Catenary Geometries are a little different though; Trains can't just go from Germany or Austria into Switzerland as the latter requires a narrower Pantograph. Some Lines like between the Basel Badischer Bahnhof (German) and Basel SBB (Swiss) Stations are built with the Catenary being "narrow" enough that it doesn't slip off Swiss Pantographs while the Sides also have enough Clearance that German Pantographs don't crash into something. This is only viable for short Distances though, as running a German Pantograph under Swiss Width Catenary for prolonged Times would wear it out unevenly. Can't tell for sure for going into Scandinavia, but there's either Denmark's 25 kV 50 Hz System or the un-electrified Rostock-Trelleborg Ferry between Germany and Sweden anyway. Pluf OFC there's the different Train Control Systems, but I can't really tell much about them as I'm more of an Engineering than a Railway Guy and never really looked into them. Plus they're mostly Electronics/Computers, and especially the latter often is Dark magic to me.

@@Genius_at_Work of course! Unlike international trains such as Eurostar, these older electric locomotives will have power system compatibility issues if they are to be operated in other countries. On the other hand, since many European countries use standard gauges, diesel locomotives probably do not have this problem.

The Ae 3/6 II was still around back then, most were retired and scrapped during the 70ies. The Ae 3/6 I and the very similar Ae 4/7 kept going until the mid-90ies, making some almost 75 Years old when they were retired. If there wasn't a Surplus in Locomotives then, they could as well have been kept going well into the 2000s.

Yep modern stuff you can just use an Inverter

indeed, sometimes i forgot how electricity can be controlled without semiconductor. just mechanically!

Olten has quite mild Winters, I grew up not far away in the Basel Area (but at the German Side of the Botders there). Olten is located in the relatively flat Swiss Plateau (aka Midlands) after all, the Mountains that you can see is the sharp southern Drop of the Swiss Jura Mountains.

@@Genius_at_Work Sounds good. Still cold enough for dew to become ‘black’ ice, however. A covered bridge would certainly make life easier for everyone.

And me too from NZ, lovely engineer's perspective, made me smile al thru.

@@michaelguerin56 The covered bridge is made of wood and old. The main reason to cover it, would have been to protect the wood from degradation by water getting trapped inside the construction. those bridges are between something like 50 years up to a estimated 800+ years old. the oldest ones are near fribourg, but they lack a exact date of contruction. one near bern where i live is from the year 1535 (still in use for motor traffic, 20 mph max / 7000 lbs, one way). Most people only heard of the Kappellbrücke of Luzern (1333), but there are about 350 still standing (few are reconstructed ones). The one in the picture is from 1804. it's predecessors were destroyed by floods. Still, snow may have been a factor, too. Back then it was not uncommon to get over 1m of snow, even in they low-plateau. the weight of the snow potentially could have collapsed such a bridge if not cleared fast enough.

@@beyondEV Thank you for that update. Apropos of that, if you have ever wondered why we carpenters tend to orient square washers in a diamond fashion when we bolt together timber trusses and pile braces, it is because water is more likely to run off the washer than it is to get in behind the washer, where it could cause timber decay and/or corrosion. It is NOT to make the hardware look pretty. Have a good festive season.

Thanks for this info. It is thus the same as US and North American practice. Vacuum brakes have the problem of sucking dirt in at each car, and the limitation to ~14 psi.

I drove a Baldwin 2-8-0 and 2-6-2 for many years. Sooo… I was also jolted when the narration said “vacuum brakes.” And, I noticed the “brake stand” in the video. It looked an awful lot like the brake stand on my American locomotives. Identical, actually. Not a big deal, of course; this is a superior video. I just took notice because there were some early attempts to use vacuum to activate brakes on trains and they were by-and-large unsuccessful. Interestingly, vacuum brakes were markedly disfunctional at higher elevations. So… in Switzerland, or any mountainous railroad… no good.

@@otiselevator7738 That's a good point about the elevation making vacuum brakes even less effective. Strangely enough that a country like South Africa with lots of its railway infrastructure at 2000ft + used vacuum brakes that long. The UK abandoned them as late as mid 1980s, about 20 years earlier air brakes started to be introduced but it lasted that long to phase out all old stock and locomotives needed to be dual brake in many cases during that period.

Interesting. I didn’t know vacuum brakes were used that extensively. I didn’t think they were used much at all. What with the Westinghouse brakes used so profusely for so many years one would think vacuum brakes would have disappeared long ago. ‘probably a case of making a bad decision and then having to stick with it.

It probably was rolled outside on a Maintenance Day. The Locomotives that aren't worked on are moved out of the Depot to get more Space for working. I recorded the Footage of the Switchgear in Action on such a Day.

Does on almost all old Single Phase AC Locomotives. Prior to Transfromer-Tap Changer-Series Motor Technology, Single Phase AC used Repulsion Motors that were somehow controlled by adjusting the Motor Brushings. I yet have to figure out how pretty much anything on that works. These Motors were hughe and ran so slow, that they didn't need Reduction Gearboxes. Here's two Pictures of what that looked like: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/1926_Linke-Hofmann_-_Werke_AG%2C_E_50_42_ex_pr_EP242_Breslau.JPG upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Rh%C3%A4tischen_Bahn_Ge_2_4.jpg The second one is an RhB Ge 2/4, one of them (#205) might be restored to operational Condition. If so, it would be the only operational Locomotive of that Technology in the World. It would rank very high on my Bucket List of potential Videos then. Right now, regarding Rail Electrification I focus on Triple Phase AC, aka the Reason why some Railways have two Overhead Power Lines. These are the Gornergratbahn and Jungfraubahn in Switzerland (climbing to almsot over 3000 m respectively almost 3500 m above Sea Level), the Chemin de Fer de la Rhune in France and the Corvocado Rack Railway in Brazil. Two Phases are in the Catenary Wires and the Third Phase is in the Rails. This means that one Phase is grounded instead of the Neutral Point, and the Triple Phase System rotates around that Phase. Speed is controlled by changing the Number of Poles in the Motorsand by Cascading the two Motors . These yield a few synchronous Speeds, and for smooth Acceleration there also are Restsitors for between these synchronous Speeds. Apparently, there also is some Trickt to get four Phases which yields even more Synchronous Speeds, but again that's something that I yet have to figure out. I'll probably make that Video at the Chemin de Fer de la Rhune, as the two Swiss Railways use mostly modern EMU Trains that work like any other modern Electric Train (Synchronous Traction Motors controlled by a Frequency Converter), while in France only 1920ies Locomotive-hauled Trains are used. The Locomotives are SLM He 2/2, where the Machinery is nicely visible inside. I've got a Video coming up in a few Weeks of the Schynige Platte Bahn in Switzerland, which also exclusively uses He 2/2 Locomotives. One Engineer there was nice enough to allow me to briefly record the Traction Motors while shunting. However, that Video of the Schynige Platte Bahn will just show the Railway and the Scenery, and won't feature any Explanations.

I didn't know that the main Transformer had 'stepped' Windings to control Power Output. I was looking for a Bank of Huge Resistors, thinking that Speed Control was done in that way. It also looks like the manufacturer of the system used a Safety factor of four in almost all mechanical switchgear - it's so rugged! Finally, I just have to say that your work in producing such a high-class video has not gone unnoticed, and is a real education for future Electrical Engineers around the world. Greetings from Australia.

Huge Resistor Banks is how DC Traction works, partially at least. DC Locomotives often have plenty Traction Motors that can be changed between Serial and Parallel Wiring, and Resistor Banks are used for smooth Transistion between the various different Motor Wirings. Resistors are also neccessary for Dynamic Braking; Regenerative Braking is impossible with DC as the generated Power can't go past the Rectifier in the Substations and thus can't be fed back into the Transmission Grid. Btw did I recently see another interesting Approach in Diesel-Electric Marine Propulsion on the Finnish Icebreaker Sampo (built 1961). The Diesel Generators always run at 325 RPM there, so the DC Voltage always stays the same. Instead, the Propeller Motors are controlled by changing the Excitation; Exciting Current is generated with five Rotative Converters. A Video of that is coming some Time soon.

Yes, and you got some Swiss Steam Locomotives too. The Netherlands electrifying early too is quite odd, as early Electrification usually happened in Places with plenty Hydropower available. There couldn't be a harder Opposite than the Netherlands, where Power is used to pump Water up in many Places.

German speaking countries and Scandinavia still to this day keep the one-third frequency (16.7Hz AC 15kV) electric traction system which is very expensive, because it is essentially a second national grid alongside the general-purpose 50Hz grid, thus doubles the construction and maintenance costs. (Hint: general purpose grid couldn't become the 16.7Hz, because incandescent lightbulbs visibly flicker at 40Hz or less frequency and until the advent of TV, PC etc. consumer electronics, illumination was by far the most important use of electricity.) The 16.7Hz traction system is bi-secting East and West Europe, which is a great hinderance to general adoption of the UIC standard 25kV / 50Hz AC system throughout the unified Europe and makes railways uncompetitive to aviation. (Imagine if airplanes had to land at every state border and replace the engines to continue their journey, because each country had different percentage of oxygen / nitrogene in its atmosphere.) USA also suffered from this problem with their 25Hz reduced frequency railway traction grid, versus the 60Hz AC national grid - but they have largely abandoned hydro powered electric traction for hihgly polluting diesel locomotives, so the AC frequency duality doesn't bother them as much.

Not too many, but IIRC the major Issue is the Westinghouse Brake Valve (the one with the Wheel) which apparently operates quite differently compared to modern Brakes. I can't tell too much about that though, because I'm a Marine Engineer just applied my not very Railway-specific Engineering Knowledge in this Video. At least in Germany, EU Regulations require Railway Engineers to have Ratings kinda comparable to Airline Pilots. Because Switzerland adapts many of Things like that to EU Standard, it most likely is the same there too. Germany has some Exceptions for historic Trains though, especially Volunteer-ran Heritage Railways. E.g. are there no Type Ratings for Steam Locomotives, just the (very few) Oil-fired ones need some additional Certification.

That Leap happened almost 10 Years earlier; the Ae 3/6" were built for Passenger Trains in the relatively flat Swiss Midlands, where Main Lines were electrified in the 1920ies. The two Lines crossing the Alps (Gotthard and Lötschberg) were electrified in the 1910s, and the Locomotives introduced there drastically outperformed the old Steam Locomotives. These Types introduced in the 1910s were the Be 4/6 for Passenger Trains, and the Ce 6/8" for Freight. The latter is the legendary Swiss Crocodile.

​@@Genius_at_Workso introduced not long after the Legendary General Electric Boxcabs for the Milwaukee Road

First fully electrified railway mainline was the Valtellina in north Italy, close to the swiss border. Work started in 1898 and revenue service started in 1902.

@@etomcat yeah the Milwaukee Road finished it's first section of Electrification between Harlowton Montana and Avery Idaho in 1915

Yeah you can't see a GG1 running anymore cause they ran those things so hard their frames cracked

Plus the original Transformer Oil has been disposed, and new one can't be produced anymore as it would require PCB. I'm no Expert on that, but IIRC, modern-grade Transformer Oil isn't insulating enough or can't transfer enough Heat for the Transformers of the GG-1. One may be restored using a Generator Car though, but that probably means it will be pretty much a standard Diesel-Electric Locomotive and most if not all the Switchgear will be inoperable. Chances are it would become the first (to my Knowledge) Single-Phase AC Diesel-Electric Locomotive in the World.

The Ae 3/6 I and the very similar Ae 4/7 were used into the 90ies as well, and could have been kept going well into the 2000s if there wasn't a Locomotive Surplus after the Introduction of the "Lok 2000" Class Re 460. The Ae 3/6 I is from the early and to mid 1920ies, and the Ae 4/7 from the late 1920ies to mid 1930ies. Both use the Buchli-System as Drivetrain between Motors (one per Wheelset) and Wheels, and the Ae 4/7 basically is just a stretched Ae 3/6 I with one more Set of Driving Wheels. However, the Ae 3/6 I was built by BBC only, while the Ae 4/7 were built by BBC; MFO and SAAS (the three big Electrical Engineering Companies of Switzerland) and thus had accordingly different Electric Designs. Both Ae 3/6 I and Ae 4/7 have a couple preserved Operational and some more on Static Display. For the Ae 3/6 II and Ae 3/6 III, the operational ones in Olten/Lausanne are the only preserved ones. Ae 3/6 II (MFO) and Ae 3/6 III (SAAS) were retired in the 1970ies though, before large Scale Preservation Efforts started. Regarding the Manufacturers should I clarify perhaps, that all these Locomotives were built by SLM (Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik) in Winterthur, and the Electrical Companies just built the Electric and Drivetrain Side of the Locomotives. BBC is Brown, Bovieri & Cie, located in Baden (near Zürich), MFO is Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, located in Oerlikon (today a District of Zürich) and SAAS is Societe Actionaire des Ateliers de Secheron, located in Secheron (District of Geneva). MFO and SAAS were eventually bought by BBC, and BBC later merged with the Swedish ASEA (Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget) forming ABB.

Ah but those are DC Locomotives I'd say they are mechanically much more similar to the R-motors used by the South Shore Railroad

I imagine similar to the PRR AC Locomotives although I think they used different traction motors on pre-1934 equipment

> I didn't know how those work. This is essentially a DC locomotive but run under AC wire. It is powered by DC motors, wired with "universal connection" so they keep turning even under AC power. However, the graphite commutators of universally connected DC motors catch "round-about fire" at 50 / 60Hz AC from excessive arcing and burn. The "solution" was to severely reduce frequency (to 16.7Hz in german-speaking Europe and Scandinavia or 25Hz in the USA, versus the 50 / 60 Hz national grids). Arcing still occurs but is not disastrous as such low frequencies. The price to pay for the lame trick is severe though: because of the low frequency AC, transformers weigh much more, about 5 tons extra for each locomotive versus the modern 25kV/50Hz system. There is also a need to supply railways with 15kV/16.7Hz single-phase AC, as opposed to 50Hz AC 3-phase of the general purpose national grid. Either large rotary or solid-state converter stations are built or there is a wholly separate railway grid constructed, with dedicated railway powerplants. Germany even had a railway-dedicated nuclear powerplant, which is quite wasteful, because railway power needs are not more than 2.5% of a nation's entire electric consumption. Thus the 16.7Hz system is a huge waste of resources and money. Rich countries like Switzerland, Sweden could afford it, but worldwide railway electrification, including developing countries like India or Hungary couldn't have happened without the 25kV/50Hz traction system, which relies on power from the unified 50Hz 3-phase AC national grid.

It has Jackshaft and Siderods on both Sides; having them on only one Side would cause unneccessary Stress to the Bearings.

There is another Locomotive that might be restored to operational Condition with an even larger Traction Motor, but because it's just a small Narrow Gauge Train, the Traction Motor may not be much larger than here but literally fills the Locomotive. It's RhB Ge 2/4 #205 (the RhB is where the legendary Bernina Express runs, and partially the Glacier Express too), and that entire Locomotive might fit into the Traction Motor Room of an Ae 3/6 II. The Motor is an Repulsion Motor instead of a Series Motor, and it is controlled not by a Tap Changer and Transformer, but somehow by moving the Brushings on the Commutator. I yet have to figure out how that works exactly. If it gets restored, it would be the only Locomotive with that Technology Worldwide. Restoration is tricky though, as such a Motor causes huge inductive Phase Shifting (aka a bad Power Factor) when starting, that could cause Problems with modern Equipment on other Trains or in the Power Transmission System. Plus back when these Locomotives were in Service, the Power Transmission was nowhere near as powerful as today, meaning to say the Voltage dropped significantly when these Motors started up. With today's Power Grid, you wouldn't even notice a Difference but still keeping up the full Voltage when the Motors draw maximum Current during starting might blow the Insulation. So to restore this Locomotive, a new AC-DC-AC Converter must be fitted to separate the Phase shifted AC at the Motor from the Transmission Grid, and that Converter must also reduce the Voltage at strong Currents. That's some serious Engineering Effort required first, but some Electrical Engineering Students at the ETH Zürich University are working on that as Diploma Thesis. This Semiconductor Techmology is Dark Magic to me though; I did have some Electrical Engineering Classes when studying Marine Engineering, but they didn't cover any of that. Btw. I am getting plenty Comments from New Zealanders; according to KZfaq Analytics you only rank at 34th in my Viewership Numbers, making up less than 1% (it's a small Country after all, Population-wise). You just seem very above-average vocal about where you are from.

Thank you for your very long and detailed reply. I work in the electrical utility industry in Auckland on the 11,22, 33 and 110 kV networks. Besides of that I love railways, the locomotives, the signalling systems in different countries. As a kid I have seen the green Crocodile locomotive in Switzerland in the mid 1970's. I was impressed with the jackshaft system they used on and electric locomotive. It is so awesome to see it work, so much more interesting to see the moving parts instead of a BoBo or CoCo arrangement. NZ has the 3ft6 gauge and we use electric BoBoBo locomotives which we call toasters, as they look like that. Look forward to more electrical video's when you have time to upload them. I am a meter collector of electro-mechanical kWh meters. That was where I started KZfaq off with about 15 years ago. @@Genius_at_Work

Ae 4/4 or Be 4/4? There is an Ae 4/4 built by SLM for the BLS (bern-Lötschberg-Simplon-Bahn) Private Railway Company, but it was built along with BBC instead of SAAS. SAAS built the Be 4/4 along with SLM, which was delivered to the BT (Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn) and EBT (Emmental-Burgdorf-Thun-Bahn) Private Railways. Anyway both had important Pioneering Roles in Switzerland, with the Be 4/4 being the first modern Bogie Locomotive with driven Wheels only. The Be 4/4 was just a small Branch Line Locomotive only though, and the Ae 4/4 then adapted and improved that Design for Main Line Usage. Plus it overall is just more modern; the Bodywork of the Be 4/4 looks more like the Ae 3/6 in this Video here. Around the same Time as the Be 4/4, the E 44 pioneered pretty much the same Things in Germany btw.

@@Genius_at_Work It was a Czech design, but it used a lot of licensed components, most of them came from Ae 4/4. Some sources mention SAAS, too. There was more Swiss licensed components in it, like Sécheron clutch. The first series E499.0 (140 class) was the best looking. de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8CSD-Baureihe_E_499.0 There were other series derived from 140 class (121, 122, 123, 141, 242), using domestic components, but not as aesthetically pleasing. Many of them pull fright till today.