#1959· SNCF BB 1600
SNCF Class BB 1600
🇫🇷 France ·built by Constructions électriques de France· from 1922· class of 20 French electric locomotives
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. BB Midi E4002 Mulhouse FRA 001: ignis· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. SNCFBB1617JPVL: Christian Schnabel· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The BB 1600 were a series of fifty electric locomotives from the Chemins de fer du Midi, operating under direct current at a voltage of 1.5 kV. They constituted the first generation of BB Midi, delivered between 1923 and 1926. Numbered E 4001 to 4050 in Midi, they became Class BB 4500 at the creation of SNCF, then were reclassified as shunting locomotives under the numbers BB 1601 – 1650 in the 1950s. The last members of the class were removed from SNCF inventories in 1984.
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 104 years ago, in 1922.
- Weighs about as much as 13 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 11.9 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 62 years (1922–1984).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1922–1926
- in service from
- 1922
- retired
- 1984
- status
- retired
- number built
- 20
- 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
- 90 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- Overhead
- wheel arrangement
- Bo′Bo′
- length
- 11.9 m
- weight
- 76 t
- nicknames
- BB Midi
- Dutch name
- SNCF BB 1600
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2876800, Wikipedia: SNCF Class BB 1600 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.