what is it?
The Indian locomotive class WDS-8 was a class of diesel–electric locomotive that was developed in 1979 by the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works for Indian Railways, but ended up being delivered exclusively to the private sector. The model name stood for broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), Shunter (S) engine, 8th generation (8). They entered service in 1979.
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 47 years ago, in 1979.
- 597 kW is about 7 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 12 African elephants (~6 t each).
diesel locomotive: A diesel engine on board drives the wheels, usually through a generator (diesel-electric).
spec sheet
- built
- 1979–1982
- in service from
- 1972
- status
- retired
- number built
- 5
- kind
- Diesel
- traction
- diesel
- origin
- 🇮🇳 India
- builders
- CLW
- operators
- Steel Authority of India Limited
- top speed
- 35 km/h
- power
- 597 kW
- gauge
- 1,676 mm Indian broad gauge
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′
- weight
- 73 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q96382107, Wikipedia: Indian locomotive class WDS-8 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.