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shenanigan87 β Farewell
Published: 2012-06-24 15:09:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 559; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 6
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A farewell pic for 143 309, since she died a fiery death yesterday. Looked through my archive and found this older photo, taken in DΓΌsseldorf Oberbilk on the 28th of March this year.Nobody was injured, but the driver suffered smoke inhalation and was admitted to a local hospital. The fire apparently started while the train was accelerating away from the platform at Essen Kettwig. Immediately, the driver stopped the train, lowered the pantograph and opened the doors, telling passengers to exit the train. Since the cars were still next to the platform, passengers were able to safely disembark without problems.
It's not clear what started the fire, with the first police report stating that a technical defect is to blame. They said that a drive motor, generator and rectifier have burned out completely, but I'm not aware of a 143 even having a generator... Some people on DSO have instead suggested that the transformer or power controller is at fault, due to the scorch marks on the locomotive's side being signs of high voltage arcing. Whatever the case may be, I'm certain we'll find out within the next few days.
All I know for certain is that 143 309 will be heading for the scrap heap soon.
If you've paid close attention, you may have spotted her before, namely in this pic.
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Comments: 32
Its another awesome shot. Its a pitty about her incident... at least you have some great photos of it.
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True... I did find another photo by chance, but that was after I've already uploaded this one.
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das ist auch mir nicht entgangen und finde es
richtig klasse, dass du dieses hier festgehalten hat.
vor 2 tagen ist bei uns eine euregiobahn
angebrannt und wurde auch sofort von
einem bekannten benachrichtigt.
nur leider konnte ich so kurzfristig nicht
dort hin um bilder zu machen.
ist immer eine traurige sache...
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Jo, vom Euregio Talent hatte ich auch schon gehΓΆrt.
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wirklich traurig.... aber Γ€hnliche nachrichten
wird man immer wieder mal hΓΆren und zurzeit
ist es ja * leider * auch keine seltenheit
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What a way to go. Save the fire for the steam engines, eh?
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You couldn't resist, could you?
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sorry, sorry.
In any case I am sad to see it go.
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Looking at how a great many of them are sitting in DΓΌsseldorf [link] after being withdrawn from service, perhaps the loss of this specimen will lead to the ressurection of another one. I hope...
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Let us hope!
How old are the 143's?
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Very young actually, they were built between 1984 and 1991.
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It seems a bit new to be throwing them away most of the diesel locomotives here date from the 50s through to the 70s.
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There's a lack of demand for these, so a large number of completely undamaged ones has already ended up on the scrap heap.
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huh, yeah they DEFINITELY shouldnt be out of service yet! Why are they in storage, surplus motive power?
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Most S-Bahn lines (where they used to work) are now serviced by EMUs, making the 143s redundant...
And they were built in the GDR, which means that they were technically outdated even when new. West-Germany started using multiphase-AC electrics with asynchronous drive motors as early as the 1970s, while the 143 still uses brushed motors, thus not being able to use regenerative braking either. That, and the very low top speed of 120kph, courtesy of the GDR's rail network that didn't allow higher speeds. Even the 50 year old 110 can go faster than that, making the 143s useless for modern commuter trains that top out at 160kph.
Some have found new jobs in the freight sector, but most of them seem to end up on the scrap heap.
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huh, interesting. Does the lack of multiphase AC being present prevent these from being re-motored?
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Well, you'd have to change the entire guts of the locomotive, and that's more effort than it would take to build a modern one. And then there's still the problem of the entire suspension and gearing being aimed at low speeds, so one would have to modify all of that as well. DB did once do the latter, but it was rather expensive and apparently not worth it. They're not the most powerful machines either, and getting spare parts for overly complicated 1980s electronics is apparently a pain in the ass.
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The last I can do is favor this picture huh?
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Seems like a prudent move, yeah.
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my 9 year old son was almost in tears when I showed the picture of the burning locomotive
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he lives and breathes trains, something like that makes an impact on him, I just wanted him to see that at least you still had a nice picture of it
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These locomotives are being scrapped anyways [link] due to a lack of demand, so there's no way they'll rebuild this one.
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Thanks, and you're right!
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