Lost African locomotives

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Lionic II
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Lost African locomotives

Post by Lionic II »

There are some Africa locomotives about which I know mostly from postage stamps and Internet is almost silent about. Does anyone in community know more about them than I do? Or could suggest books, forums, sites to check out?
Gabon
- Locomotive BB100. Some pictures of it including modern ones of good quality can be found online. Known facts are that it was made by Alstom as type AD30B (French site says that Portuguese CP Series 1900 and 1930 locomotives belonged to same type but these are Co'-Co' locomotives and look quite different externally), with first batch outfitted with 3000 HP V12 DHSR diesel engine and second batch--with ALCO engines;

Cote d'Ivoire
- La Gazelle locomotive or DMU. No information except other stamp with similar engine called "La Belier locomotive". Modern "Gazelle" train does exist in Cote d'Ivoire and is updated with modern rolling stock made in Korea;

Republic of Congo (all locomotives probably operated on Congo Ocean railway)
- CC 203. French site mentions 6 engines CC 201 to CC 206 equipped with 2400 HP built for Congo Ocean railways in 1965-1967. It seems the same model was built by Sorefame for Rhodesian railways as DE8 of which some photos do exist and at least two survive in railway museum in Bulawayo. Additional details found on Portuguese website mention that DE8 is based on Alstom AD28C (which I presume is Congolese locomotive) and that it's weight is 120 tons;
- BB 103. No information except a photograph of it in an article about Congo Ocean railway;
- BB - BB 301- No information except another postage stamp with similar locomotive number 302 calling it C.E.M. C.A.F.L. locomotive;
- BB 420 L'Eclair. No information;
Another set of Congolese stamps also mentions "Whitcombe DA" (1946) and nameless early diesel-electric locomotive (1935).
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BB100 stamp Gabon
BB100 stamp Gabon
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La Gazelle stamp
La Gazelle stamp
la gazelle.jpg (11.53 KiB) Viewed 1495 times
congolese.png
congolese.png (1.03 MiB) Viewed 1495 times
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althonos
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Re: Lost African locomotives

Post by althonos »

The Congo BB-BB 301 can be found on trains-europe amongst the Alsthom diesel: 130t, 80km/h, 3600 hp! And a visit on this old website even gives us the tractive effort of 35 ton-force = 343 kN.

There are also couple BB-BB ones covered a bit in this review (in French): http://www.railetindustrie.com/RI61abstract.pdf. They were apparently in use in Cameroon (the BB-BB 302), Madagascar, and Ivory Coast, but they don't list the Congo one.
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althonos
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Re: Lost African locomotives

Post by althonos »

BB-402 info from an obscure Facebook group: It was a series of 4 locomotives built at C.E.M Le Havre in France, in 1971, and apparently had a power of 1800hp. No mention of its name "l'Eclair" whatsoever but they were sporting their distinct red livery already!
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