#4054
Indian locomotive class WCG-2
🇮🇳 India ·built by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works· from 1970· electric locomotive type in the Indian Railways
4 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. WCG2 triplet Indian Railways: HarshWCAM3· CC BY-SA 2.0
- 2. Indian locomotive class WCG-2: Mohit S· CC BY 2.0
- 3. Indian locomotive class WCG-2 2: Mohit S· CC BY 2.0
- 4. WCG2 Nagnath line Indian Railways: HarshWCAM3· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The Indian locomotive class WCG-2 (colloquially also known as Howlers due to very noisy blowers by Railfans) is a class of 1.5 kV DC electric locomotives that was developed in the late 1960s by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), DC Current (C), Goods traffic (G) engine, 2nd generation (2). They entered service in February 1971.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 56 years ago, in 1970.
- 3.1 MW is about 37 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 22 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 18.7 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1970–1976
- retired
- 2012
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 57
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇮🇳 India
- builders
- Chittaranjan Locomotive Works
- operators
- Indian Railways
- top speed
- 90 km/h
- power
- 3.1 MW
- gauge
- 1,676 mm Indian broad gauge
- electric system
- 1.5 kV DC Overhead
- wheel arrangement
- Co′Co′
- length
- 18.7 m
- weight
- 132 t
- nicknames
- Howlers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q65050149, Wikipedia: Indian locomotive class WCG-2 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.