These are the diesels that have been around here for almost six decades. These are the diesels that were instrumental in making India a step closer towards being self-reliant. These are the diesels that have hauled almost every chunk of load that is carried on the Indian rails atleast once. They are none other that the diesels that were made and based on the designs by the American Locomotive Company (ALCo). They are one of the most robust machines in the locomotive roster of Indian Railways.
These locomotives have predominantly occupied the “WDM” or the “Broad Gauge, Diesel Traction, Mixed Traffic” classes of locomotives of the Indian Railways, but their reminiscences can also be seen in the “WDP” or the “Broad Gauge, Diesel Traction, Passenger Traffic” classes and the “WDG” or the “Broad Gauge, Diesel Traction, Goods Traffic” classes as well, which were established by rebuilding that same old faithful ALCo locomotive. Their imprints not only end with the “W” gauge or the 1,676 mm broad gauge, but also the most famous diesel locomotive of the “YDM” or the “1,000 mm Metre Gauge, Diesel Traction, Mixed Traffic” class was a ALCo build.
c.2013.
Dawn of the WDM-1
It all started in the year 1957, when the Indian Railways, after its nationalization, was looking forward develop the existing railway infrastructure. For this, one of the major aspects was to change the traction for powering trains, which was predominantly steam at that time. Although we had limited number of diesels on metre and narrow gauges that worked on the mainline, the only broad gauge diesel locomotive inducted in the fleet of IR at that time was the little shunter, the WDS-1 built by the General Electric, USA . We needed a mainline diesel locomotive to modernise our fleet and to haul loads efficiently. for this, the American Locomotive Company (ALCo), New York, was approached. they handed us with the design of the “World Locomotive”, a variant of the ALCo FA series which was actually meant for third-world countries with gauges other than the 1,435 mm standard gauge. It had become popular in countries like Greece, Pakistan, Australia etc because of its bogie design, as it could easily be modified without hampering much of the locomotive to run on different gauges. The model was named as “DL500C” by ALCo, which was given the class name of “WDM-1” by IR.
c. 2019
Techincal Aspects of the WDM-1
The WDM-1 was a capable machine. Being the very first diesel-electric locomotive of IR, which meant that it had a dynamo to convert the mechanical energy generated by the diesel engine into electricity, which was fed to the traction motors mounted on each axle to power them up and to move the locomotive. For this, it had a 12-cylinder, 4 stroke, turbocharged and intercooled 251B prime mover, which could deliver 1977 HP at 1000 RPM under normal conditions. To generate electricity, it had a GT-581 Traction Generator by General Electric. The generator could produce 2900 amps of Direct Current at its maximum speed of 1000 RPM. Its traction motors were also built by General Electric (model GE-761) which were axle-hung and nose-suspended on its two “Pennsylvania” type bogies. It had three traction motors and three axles per bogie, which means that all six axles of the locomotive were powered, rendering it to have the “Co-Co” wheel arrangement. The 12-wheels, each of diameter 1,016 mm before being worn out were delivered with 1856 HP by the traction motors. Each traction motor required 580 amps of continuous Direct Current at maximum to move at 3100 RPM. The traction motors were connected in two major connections, series-parallel and parallel. The pinion-and-axle gear ratio of the locomotive was 94:17. The locomotive was powered by diesel fuel and it had an underslung fuel tank of 6060 litres in capacity. For its brakes, the locomotive had air brakes for itself and vacuum brakes for the train. There were some 20 units that were rebuilt later with dynamic brakes. Altogether, the locomotive weighed around 111.6 tons with an axle load of 18.6 tons per axle. The maximum speed of this locomotive was 104 km/hr and it had 8 notches to control the engine RPM and speed along with an idling notch.
Physical Aspects of the WDM-1
The WDM-1 was considered to be very “ergonomic” during its time. Since it had a single cab, it was considered to be very comfortable for the drivers as it had proper seats and cooling fans, something which the steam locomotives could only dream of at that time. It was much easier to drive than the steam locomotives and was much more comfortable. Interestingly, this locomotive had an early type of Vigilance Control Device (VCD) which was a foot pedal that was meant to be kept pressed by the driver. The pedal had some mechanical connections with the brakes. Upon its release, some internal mechanisms ensured that the train was put to an halt by the application of brakes. This pedal infamously came to be known as the “Dead Man’s pedal”. Many drivers avoided the tedious job of keeping the pedal pressed by putting a brick or some heavy object on it, thereby making things easier for the driver, yet compromising with the safety. The body style of the WDM-1 was known as the “Car Body” style, in there was a single hood covering the entire structure, with the single cab facing only one end.
History and Service Life of WDM-1
After the procurement of the deal, 20 units of WDM-1s made by ALCo in their plant at Schenectady, New York, initially arrived on the Indian shores in 1958. They were assigned the IR road numbers of #17000-#17019 and were homed at the lost Diesel Locomotive Shed of Gaya,a major junction on the Grand Chord line of the Eastern Railway. There, they found jobs under the Eastern Railway to haul freights on the-then unelectrified Chord and around. The remaining 80 units which had the numbers of #17020-#17099 were also homed initially at Gaya, but many were transferred to Waltair (Vishakhapatnam), Gorakhpur and Bondamunda. Finally when the electrification of Gaya as well as the entire Grand Chord was done in 1961-62, the entire shed at Gaya was evacuated and its holdings were sent to the Diesel Locomotive Shed, Patratu in 1964. They initially hauled iron-ore and coal freights under the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway, that adopted “dieselization” at very first. In 1965, the Howrah-Kalka Mail became the first train to be hauled by a WDM-1 with the road number #17045 for the first time till Asansol. From there it was hauled by an electric locomotive. The South Eastern Railway also adopted this trend and gave the link of the Howrah-Madras Mail end-to-end to a WDM-1. It also hauled sugarcane trains under the North Eastern Railway. These machines were capable and powerful enough to haul most loads of its time.
Disadvantages of the WDM-1
Although, they were capable and powerful, they were not without their disadvantages. They only had a single cab at one end which required lots of turntables to reverse them. This wasn’t much of a disadvantage as they could easily be used as Multiple Units with their respective cabs facing their ends on both sides. Turntables were also easily accessible during that time owing to the dominance of steam. There are reported sightings of WDM-1s with road numbers #17038 and #17097 which were rebuilt with dual cabs to tackle this problem. Secondly, it was powerful, but IR required something more powerful and efficient that could be used on Indian tracks with ease, and hence they procured the WDM-2 in 1962.
End of WDM-1’s era
These locomotives proved to be of great worth to Indian Railways. Being the very first broad gauge mainline diesel-electric locomotive it was much more efficient than steam locomotives. By the end of their service life, they were scattered around the Diesel sheds of Eastern India such as Kharagpur, Gonda, Gorakhpur and Vishakhapatnam. The Diesel Locomotive Shed of Jamalpur was one of the last sheds to get WDM-1s after its establishment in the year 1991. As their service lives waned in the 1990s, most of them were retired from the mainline and were made to perform menial duties such as shunting, departmental duties etc. Finally with the end of 1990s they were all retired and were meant to face the toll of condemnation.
Preservation and Reminiscences of the Bygone WDM-1’s era
But for the very first unit, #17000, plans were different. In the year 2000, #17000 was brought from its last home, Jamalpur, to its permanent resting place at the National Rail Museum, New Delhi, where it stands proudly behind a turntable and the WDM-4, the very first EMD on our broad gauge tracks. Through its afterlife, it displays the grandeur that these machines had in its heyday, which the rail enthusiasts of present generations can only imagine. As cameras were not widespread amongst the railfan fraternity at that time, there are very less photos and no videos to document this locomotive. Only the senior railwaymen and rail enthusiasts who have seen this locomotive can describe the magnificence of it working on the tracks and hauling loads of various types, which the people of present day could only think of.
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