British Rail Class 50 - Portuguese Locomotives

Portuguese Locomotives

The Portuguese Railways, CP, bought ten locomotives similar to the BR Class 50. These locomotives, designated by CP as "Série 1800" (numbered 1801–1810), entered service in 1968.

Like the British Class 50s, they were equipped with an English Electric 16 CSVT engine and produced 2700 hp (2020 HP at the wheels). Unlike the BR locomotives upon which electronic control is extensively used, the Portuguese locomotives employ conventional control gear (the only exceptions being stepless control of tractive effort by a solid-state load regulator and the use of a very effective out-of-balance wheel-slip detector). The main generator and the traction motors are identical to those used on the BR Type 3 and Deltic locomotives. Contrary to BR Class 50, the Portuguese Série 1800 locomotives were built to be as much compatible with the smaller Série 1400 (themselves similar to BR Class 20) as possible and also to use as many common components as possible.

They were the only diesel locomotives in Portugal authorised to run at 140 km/h. The CP Série 1800s were all withdrawn in 2001 and (as of 2012) all except 1809 still survive, their future unclear.

Locomotive 1805 has been preserved in operational condition by the Portuguese National Railway Museum at Entroncamento. It was repainted at the CP workshop at Contumil near Porto. Since the 1980s it had been painted in CP's corporate orange livery; it has been repainted in its original distinctive blue livery. It is fully functional, and while still an integral part of the National Railway Museum, is set to return to service pulling tourist trains in the Douro River Line.