La numérotation des locomotives de la SNCF

La numérotation des locomotives de la SNCF

Numbers and letters! Like road vehicles, railway vehicles, whether cars, wagons or motor vehicles, are subject to registration. Quite empirical at the birth of the railway companies where we were often content to use the name of the company which built it or that of the one which put it into circulation, followed by a

Fairly short number, this identification gradually became more complex, organized and extended. This video constitutes the 2nd and final part of the one offered last week on this channel. This time we will talk about modern times, from electric or diesel machines to

TGVs and other self-propelled vehicles and take a look at what the future has in store for us. What do the letters in the registration of steam locomotives correspond to? This is one of the questions you asked me and which I answer in this new issue. Hello and welcome to Aiguillages !

Following the publication of last week’s topic devoted to the numbering of steam locomotives you sent me some questions in particular about the meaning of the letters following the first series of numbers. For example, you wanted to know

What the C means in 141 C 100. So in fact these letters do not have any particular meaning, they are only there to distinguish between machines sharing the same axle arrangement while not not belonging to the same family. A 141 C is technically,

And even visually different from a 141 P or a 141 R. These letters were assigned to them by the SNCF in chronological order, from A to N for the machines it inherited from the companies and from P to U for those ordered by it after its creation in 1938. The letter

U was first reserved for a series of Type 140 locomotives which were brought by the Americans to Europe during the Second World War. Some were made available to the SNCF at the end of the conflict while awaiting the arrival of the 141 R, but

They were never officially allocated to it, which freed up the letter U for a machine with a singular destiny, the 232 U 1. Initially ordered for the Northern Company, it should have been part of a small series of machines whose delivery was

Interrupted by the war. It was ultimately the SNCF which took possession of it in 1949, but it remained the one and only of its series. The letter W was reserved for locomotives brought by the English army also during the Second World War, finally the letters X,

Y and Z were assigned to machines ceded by Germany to France for war damages . As a reminder, the T which sometimes precedes these letters indicates a tender type machine, that is to say on which water boxes are placed on each side of the boiler, while

The coal is stored in a hold located on the more often at the rear of the cabin otherwise, near the water box on the driver’s side. These arrangements made it possible to do without a tender attached to the machine, which facilitated maneuvers, movements being able to be made

In either direction of travel, but considerably reduced the autonomy of the machines, which limited its use for maneuvering purposes or on short journeys such as those made by commuter trains. For this purpose, type 141 TC machines were equipped with reversibility from 1930 and were assigned to pulling and pushing Talbot trains on the

Lines of the Paris suburbs departing from Saint-Lazare station by the Railway Administration iron of the State. These locomotives pulled the trains in one direction, pushed them in the other, a driving cabin being fitted in the car located at the other end of the convoy.

Let us now come to the numbering of locomotives other than steam locomotives. In this area, things have evolved quite a bit over time. A first method was applied from the creation of the SNCF in 1938 to 1962. It was largely inherited from that in

Force in the companies. As there was a non-negligible risk of producing duplicates, the company has added a number as a prefix to each registration. It indicated the region from which the machines came. 1 for the East, i.e. the former companies of the East and

Alsace-Lorraine, 2 for the North and the company of the same name, 3 for the West region using the machines of the railway administration of the the State which had itself recovered those of the Paris-Orléans, 4 designating the South-West where another series of locomotives had been recovered

From the Paris-Orléans and the Compagnie du Midi, 5 to represent the South-East coinciding for the main part with the domain of the ex PLM and 6 covering the southern part of French territory, or other machines of the PLM and the Compagnie du Midi in the Mediterranean region. In this

System the electric locomotives operating at 750 or 1500 volts direct current arrive first. Their numbering goes from 1 to 9,999. There is an exception for the machines on the Perpignan-Villefranche-de-Conflent line powered by 15,000 volts 16 Hz 2/3, ex BB Midi

Registered in the 4900 series. A new type supply arriving in France, 25,000 volts 50 Hz, in 1954 an additional numbering period was opened to register the new machines under numbers between 10,000 and 19,999 for locomotives operating only at 25,000 volts, 20,000 and 49,999 for poly-tension machines.

At that time, steam and electric locomotives constituted the majority of the engine fleet, but the numbering in force already established principles which would be applied to other types of machines which would multiply in the future. For diesel machines, the numbering system is taken from that which the

PLM had developed in the 1930s. It was itself inspired by that of steam locomotives and is based on the counting of the driving axles. Railcars are numbered between Z 1 and Z 9999, shunters between Y 1 and Y 9999 and railcars are prefixed I’m going to talk to you directly about this one.

The numbers from 1 to 1,999 are in principle reserved for direct current electric vehicles, with a small exception, they are also used for shunters whose registration begins with a Y to distinguish them. From 10,001 to 19,999 are classified machines

Powered only by 25,000 volts, from 20,001 to 29,999, those capable of operating under two systems, whether dual-voltage or dual-frequency, from 30,001 to 39,999 locomotives able to circulate under three electrical systems, from 40,000 to 40,999, under 4 systems. From 50,000 to 59,999, dual-current electric multiple units. Then come the thermal vehicles classified between 60,001

And 79,999 and the dual-mode vehicles from 80,001 to 80,999. Note a few small coquetry such as the fact that the authors of this classification have managed to ensure that the sum of some serial numbers give a new digit falling in the correct interval. This is

The case of 7,200 + 15,000 which gives 22,200 or 8,500 + 17,000 whose result is 25,500, in other words the combination of the technical characteristics of a series of machines classified in the category of current locomotives. continuous with those of another, placed in that

Of single-phase machines, gives rise to a dual-voltage machine placed in the series of dual-voltage machines. To avoid assigning the same number to a locomotive, a railcar or a railcar, the former are classified in series always ending with three 0s, for example BB 26,000, or that of CC 72,000, and railcars by 500,

For example the Z 20 500 or They have in common with a series of BB the numbering 25,500, but were assigned the letter U to distinguish them. These letters, which were originally there to recall the arrangement of the axles, are gradually losing their importance. ,

To the point that they could simply disappear quite soon. For the record, still present on a good number of machines in the form of a set of a maximum of 6 alphanumeric characters, they make it possible to distinguish the type of machine. The

Letter A being used to designate a single driving axle, B, distinguish 2, C: 3, D: 4, and the numbers the number of carrier axles which are inserted if necessary. This will be the case for the A1A A1A 68000 which has two bogies made up of 3 axles each, including two motors

At each end and 1 carrier in the middle. We can push the detail to the point of specifying whether a single motor drives the axles, in which case we will speak of type BB or CC for example, or if each axle has its own motor, which will be noted B0B0 for example

For locomotives. of the 36,000 series. As for them, the TGVs are numbered in the machine series since their locomotives can be assimilated to this category. The Paris-Sud-Est TGVs appear in the Z 23 000 and Z 33000 series, those of the TGV Atlantique: Z 24 000,

Those of the TGV Réseaux Z 28 000 and Z 38 000 and the TGV 2N Z 29 000. More recently, the The first TGV M engines received by the SNCF were recorded in the Z 21000 and 22,000 series. Due to the fact that they circulate widely outside French borders,

The “Eurostar” and “Thalys” TGVs are subject to a special numbering. On January 1, 1999, a new reform of the numbering system took place. A European Union directive imposing an organization by activity on railway companies, the SNCF had to distribute its rolling stock among different structures each

Specializing in a type of traffic. To integrate this new feature without completely disrupting the existing numbering, these new entities are identified by a prefix consisting of a number between 0 and 9 placed at the top of the pre-existing numbering. 1 indicates belonging to the France-Europe Travel activity which includes TGV,

2 to the Intercity activity, 4 to freight, 5 to Regional Express Transport, 6 to infrastructure and 8 to Transilien. The other figures are reserved to allow the definition of new activities, particularly in the context of opening up to competition. I hope you like the numbers because

The European Vehicle Number will gradually add quite a few. It was designed to promote interoperability between networks, in other words, the idea is to allow more and more trains to be able to cross borders more and more easily. But on this occasion, no less than 12 new digits

Will make it possible to identify the rolling stock. For the first one, it’s easy, it will always be a 9. The next one indicates the type of machine. 1 for an electric locomotive, 2 for a diesel, 3 for a high-speed train, 4 for an electric multiple unit, 5

For a diesel multiple unit, 6 for a railcar trailer, 7 and 9 not being allocated, but 8 assigned to shunters. The next two numbers indicate the country of origin. For France, 87. The 5th is a zero, the next 6 are the number of the machine,

Preceded by a 0 or several 0s if the first group of numbers is less than 100,000 or 10,000. Follow a hyphen and a self-check number which verifies that the full digit is valid. I will spare you the UIC number which also exists, which is also made up of 12 characters

, but which has only been applied to cars and wagons and not to motor vehicles, but which will very probably be replaced in the long term by the number European Vehicles. Did you suspect that so many engine numbering systems could have

Existed in France? Tell me in the comments. I remind you that you can find all the reports broadcast on this channel, on its website www.aiguillages.eu and that to be sure not to miss any, you can subscribe to the newsletter which

Will allow you every week to be notified when a new video is posted online, on the Aiguillolettre page. And if you haven’t watched yet the first part of it which was devoted to the identification of steam locomotives, it is not too late, you can find it by clicking on this thumbnail.

➡ Mon livre aux éditions La Vie du Rail (édition 2023 !) : https://www.aiguillages.eu/pages/boutique.php#
🔻🔻🔻 Cliquez sur Plus pour accéder aux liens !
➡ Soutenir Aiguillages :
▶︎ Passer en première classe : https://www.aiguillages.eu/pages/passerEn1ereClasse.php
▶︎ Tipee : https://fr.tipeee.com/aiguillages
▶︎ Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/aiguillages

➡ Mes réseaux Sociaux :
▶︎ Site web : http://www.aiguillages.eu
▶︎ Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/thierry.pupier.3
▶︎ Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/aiguillages/
▶︎ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aiguillages
▶︎ Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/tppvoixoff/
▶︎ Abonnement sur Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ3xXAuhGLfZchx7IlV_LqA?sub_confirmation=1

#Aiguillages