Roco 71814 Electric Locomotive Ae 8/14 11851, SBB, digital sound

Characteristic :

Brand: Roco
Ref: 71814
System: Digital sound
Decoder socket: PluX22
Company: SBB
> Era: IV
> Lights: yes
Length: 289 mm
Scale: HO: 1/87
Operation: 2 Rails
Minimum radius: 358mm

Swiss Federal Railways Ae 8/14 11851 double electric locomotive.

New model!

■ New prototype construction using the front parts of Ae 6/6
■ Windscreen wipers assembled separately
■ Chrome emblem on the front panels
■ Finely crafted pantographs
■ The two half-locomotives are driven respectively by a motor (digital model with 2 decoders controlled via an address)
■ The driver's cab lighting can be switched on using a DIP switch

To haul increasingly heavy trains through the Gotthard Pass, the Board of Directors of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) decided to build gigantic double locomotives. In 1931, the SBB put the Ae 8/14 11801 into service. The technical concept, as well as the external appearance of the two locomotive units of the Ae 8/14, were largely inspired by the Ae 4/7. This behemoth was capable of hauling 2,000 tons on level ground, 1,760 tons on a 16‰ gradient, and 770 tons on a 26‰ gradient through the mountains. Nearly 34 meters long, the giant weighed around 247 tons. In 1932, the SBB received another Ae 8/14, numbered 11851. Unlike the 11801, it was not designed by SLM and BBC, but by SLM and MFO. With identical dimensions and weight, the installed power could even be increased to 6,070 kW (8,250 hp). Locomotive 11851 was equipped with the SLM universal drive with sixteen traction motors, instead of the Buchli drive. While this drive was more efficient, it was also extremely noisy, prone to failure, and uneconomical. During its conversion in 1961, the locomotive received new welded cabs to allow for seated driving, as in the new Ae 6/6 locomotives. In service in this partially modernized state until 1976, 11851 was dismantled in 1977 at Bellinzona and scrapped at Biasca.

Our current H0 model reproduces the locomotive in its partially modernized state of the last 15 years, equipped in its digital version with many new functions.