Roco 7310072 SNCF 68540 Diesel Locomotive, blue livery, digital sound

Characteristic :

Brand: Roco
Ref: 7310072
System: Digital sound
> Decoder socket: PluX22
Company: SNCF
> Era: IV
Lights: Reversible white/red
Length: 207 mm
Scale: HO: 1/87
Operation: 2 rails
Minimum radius: 358mm

A1A diesel locomotive, 68540 of the French National Railway Company.

■ Museum locomotive version with raised numbers
■ Finely detailed ventilation grilles
■ Triple headlights
■ With a set of engraved signs
■ In digital mode with long-range, headlamp or end-of-convoy lights that can be switched individually and driver's cab lighting that can be activated separately.
■ Sound version equipped with two speakers

Between 1963 and 1968, 29 locomotives of the A1A-A1A 68500 series were built for heavy passenger and freight transport within the French National Railway Company (SNCF). They differ from the 80 examples of the A1A-A1A 68000 series built concurrently solely by their SACM AGO V 12 DSHR engine, which produced 2700 hp at the start of their service life, like their sister locomotives with Sulzer 12 LVA 24 engines.

During its career, SNCF carried out in its workshops the transformation of A1A A1A 68000 into A1A A1A 68500 by changing the Diesel engine to overcome the maintenance difficulties of the Sulzer engine, which produced the A1A A1A 68530 to 68540.

The current locomotive, bearing registration number 68540, was delivered to the SNCF in 1965. It was built by CAFL (mechanical parts), CEM (electrical equipment) and CCM Sulzer (diesel engine) as A1A-A1A 68039. In December 2002, the Sulzer engine was replaced by an AGO V 12 engine, with a power output at the end of its service life of 2150 hp compared to 2420 hp for the Sulzer engines at the same time, and the machine was renumbered accordingly A1A-A1A 68540.

In 2011, the locomotive was entrusted by SNCF to the AAATV Centre Val-de-Loire association, which restored its historic blue livery. In this condition, the locomotive is still in service for hauling special trains.