THE Z SCALE MODEL
(scroll down for information on the prototype locomotive)
Maerklin broke new ground once again when the company announced its first release of a Swiss steam engine for 2005. The chosen class, the A 3/5 (4-6-0 in Whyte notation) 600 series, somehwat echoes the introduction of Maerklin's very first Swiss model, the crocodile, because here again is a locomotive which was conceived and built for the Gotthard route.
Maerklin mini-club 88992A nice looking locomotive in the typical all-over black livery found on Swiss steam locomotives. Both the engine body and the tender are new mouldings, with the chassis coming from the German BR 38 model (unchanged except for the colour and therefore wrong in several ways, most noticeably regarding cylinders). An in-depth review of this model is provided by Jens Wimmel (in German).
In order to give this loco something to pull, Maerklin also introduced a set (87458) containing two period coaches (an AB4 mixed 1st and 2nd class and a C4 3rd class coach) based on the C4 coach originally produced as 8748 from 1983 to 1999.
47 units of the A 3/5 600 series locomotives were built between 1910 and 1915 by the Swiss Locomotive Factory Winterthur (SLM) for the Swiss Federal Railways, following in the footsteps of the predecessor 700 series A 3/5s built between 1894 and 1908 (with cylinders positioned between driving and running wheels).
The class was specifically designed to tackle the increasing demand on traffic over the Gotthard route, and while the A 3/5s did put in a good job, the shortage of coal during WW I painfully underlined Switzerland's weak position as a country completely dependent on coal imports. The A 3/5 600s were only a few years old when the strategic decision for electrification of Switzerland's rail system heralded an early demise. They had been outrun completely by electric traction in 1927 when steam disappeared from the Gotthard line, and their maximum speed of 90 km/h (60 mph) put harsh restrictions on their usefulness pulling trains in the flatter regions of Switzerland. The first members of the class were cut up as early as 1923, a few locos went to the Dutch state railways in the late 1930s, and the last loco was put out of service in Switzerland in 1964. No 600 series Ae 3/5 has been preserved, although SBB Historic maintains a 700 series A 3/5 in working order.
By the time the 1940s had rolled around, most A 3/5 locomotives were doomed, such as these two units awaiting their fate at an unknwon location
[The WB Railway Collection]
Page created 06/JAN/2006
Last revised 22/FEB/2006
