#2127
SNCF Class BB 1500
🇫🇷 France ·built by Constructions électriques de France· from 1926· class of 40 French electric locomotives
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Midi 4001: Unknown author Unknown author· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
BB 1500 were a series of forty electric locomotives from the Chemins de fer du Midi, operating under direct current at a voltage of 1.5 kV. The locomotives of this first generation of BB Midi were delivered between 1926 and 1928 and were intended for hauling freight trains. Between the end of the Second World War and the 1950s, though robust, their power was considered insufficient and their reliability too poor for main line work. As a consequence they were reclassified as shunting locomotives and were active in around fifteen SNCF depots.
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 100 years ago, in 1926.
- Weighs about as much as 12 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 11.9 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 52 years (1927–1979).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1926–1928
- in service from
- 1927
- retired
- 1979
- status
- retired
- number built
- 40
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇫🇷 France
- builders
- Constructions électriques de France
- operators
- Chemins de fer du Midi, Société nationale des chemins de fer français, Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi
- top speed
- 60 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- Overhead
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′
- length
- 11.9 m
- weight
- 74.2 t
- nicknames
- BB Midi
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2876795, Wikipedia: SNCF Class BB 1500 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.