Belgian Railways Class 35

what is it?

NMBS/SNCB Class AM35 (Automotrice 35 French for Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) – 1935 [after their year of construction] - in Dutch they were MS35, the MS standing for MotorStel) were electric multiple unit trains operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB). First used in service on May 5, 1935 (a century to the day after the founding of the Belgian Railways) along the first electric line between Brussels and Antwerp. Twelve Electric Multiple Units consisting of four carriages set ran at 120 kilometres per hour between the two cities.

who runs it

SNCB/NMBS

base stats

• speed 120 km/htop speed
• power 968 kWpower output
• weight 242 tin working order
• built 12made in total

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 91 years ago, in 1935.
• 🚗968 kW is about 11 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
• 🐘Weighs about as much as 40 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 📏91.1 m long: about 20 cars parked nose to tail.
• ⌛Served for 53 years (1935–1988).

multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.

spec sheet

built

1935

in service from

1935

retired

1988

status

retired

number built

12

kind

multiple unit

traction

electric

origin

🇧🇪 Belgium

builders

first 12 cars Société anonyme la Métallurgique

operators

SNCB/NMBS

top speed

120 km/h

power

968 kW

gauge

1,435 mm standard gauge

electric system

3000 V DC

wheel arrangement

Bo'Bo' + 2'2' + 2'2' + Bo'Bo'

length

91.1 m

weight

242 t

Dutch name

treinsteltype 1935

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.