Baureihe (Class) 151 was developed by Deutsche Bundesbahn in the 1970s as freight trains started getting faster and heavier. This electric locomotive was derived from the behemoth 150; although slightly lighter, it delivers a lot more power and higher sustained traction at higher speeds than its 'mother'.
Built from 1972 through 1978 by same the usual suspects as the 150 (AEG, Krauss-Maffei, Krupp and Siemens), numerous 151s are still in service with Deutsche Bahn, i.e. DB Cargo.
Technical fact sheet:
- Concept: Co'Co' layout (six axles in two bogies), all axles driven; conventional two-phase AC motors controlled by a 28-level switch; dynamic braking
- Power: 6,288 kW for one hour at 92 km/h, 5,982 kW sustained at 95 km/h, -6,000 kW when dynamically braking
- Traction: 395 kN maximum, 232 kN sustained
- Top speed: 120 km/h
- Total weight: 118 tonnes (19.67 tonnes per axle)
- Length: 19.49 m
- Width: 3.13 m
- Height: 4.62 m
- Distance between axles in bogie: 2.25 m
- Distance between bogies: 9.7 m
- Diameter of driven wheels: 1.25 m