The DE-1 were 30 Dutch Bo'Bo' (Two bogies, each with two driven axles) diesel railcars that would later form the Plan X with the DE-2. They were commonly known as 'Blauwe Engelen' (Blue Angels) as they saved smaller, unelectrified lines from being closed.
| DE-1 | |
|---|---|
| by Supersnel11 | |
| Price | ƒ130.000 |
| Level | 20 |
| Statistics | |
| Train type | Diesel |
| Top Speed | 105 km/h |
| Weight | 57 tons |
| Capacity | 65 first class 8 second class |
| Comfort Rating | Good |
| Length | 27,2 meters |
Liveries
The DE-1 is available in the following four liveries: Nederlandsche Spoorwegen blue and white 'Blauwe Engel, Nederlandsche Spoorwegen red, prototype and Nederlandsche Spoorwegen blue.
Historic details
Service years
The DE-1 is a design made by Allan & Co's Koninklijke Nederlandsche Fabrieken van Meubelen en Spoorwegmaterieel NV (Allan) for the Nederlandsche Spoorwegen (NS), which wanted to abolish steam on its secondary lines, which mostly ran through the thinly populated North and East side of the Netherlands, and exploit them cheaply. Allan's design fitted this purpose wonderfully so a small order was placed in 1951, which would be expanded in later years.
DE-1 21 was trailed in November of 1952. The remaining 29 railcars entered service in 1953-1955 with the numbers 22-30. Allan also produced a slightly modified version to serve as inspection vehicle: the NS 20.
The first line on which the DE-1s worked was the Arnhem - Winterswijk, which they did in pairs of two. In early 1953, the pairs were also used to exploit the lines Zwolle - Kampen and Leeuwarden - Groningen, yet by the end of the year they were exclusively found in the provinces Friesland and Groningen. This would not last long as they replaced steam on all six Northern lines in early 1954.
By the 1960s they exploited all railway lines in the North and East of the Netherlands, with the exception of the busiest three, which were exploited with the Plan U. Additionally, they were used in South of the province Limburg, the hilliest area of the country. DE-1 40-50 spent the majority of their working life there, being stationed at the Maastricht workshop for maintenance. The other DE-1s got their maintenance done in Zwolle. In the same decade, they lost their blue livery and were painted in the standardised NS diesel red.
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The first DE-1s 27 and 28, were withdrawn and scrapped in 1979 after a collision. The rest of the class would not last much longer, with electrification and more modern trainsets ready to replace them. Their systematic withdrawal would begin in 1980 with the 23, 38 and 46. Another four (24, 31, 32 & 35) would be withdrawn a year later. In 1982, the railcars stationed at Maastricht (40, 43-45, 47-49 & 50) and were replaced with modernised DE-2s and the 26, 39 and 42 were officially withdrawn.
The remaining DE-1s (21, 22, 25, 30, 33, 34, 36 and 41) were kept into service for some time due to a shortage of available rolling stock. For the same reason, the DE-1 26 and 39 were kept in service until 1983 despite having been put out of service since 1982 on paper. The two would be withdrawn and scrapped together with DE-1 30 that year. The other surviving DE-1s would continue to be used until June of 1985, with the exception of DE-1 33, which had to be withdrawn in 1984 due to damage. They would all be scrapped throughout 1985-1986, with the exception of one.
_DE1_41_%22Blauwe_Engel%22,_Amersfoort_13_september_2015.jpg)
Preservation
After its withdrawal, the Stichting Tot Behoud van Af Te Voeren Nederlands Spoorwegmaterieel (STIBANS) put its efforts to making sure the railcar was not scrapped, which they successfully prevented. They became the owners and gifted it to the Dutch Railway Museum (NSM) in 1987.
The railway museum overhauled the 41 in 1995 and put it back into service afterwards. The 41 has since been used on various excursions, lended out for events and starred in a movie (Het Verzet kraakt). In 2009, the railway museum installed ATB-e (a simplified version of the Dutch train security system), which was approved in 2011. To this day it is kept operational and occasionally used.
Technical details
The DE-1 were 270.5 cm long, 278 cm wide, 345 cm tall and weighed 57 tonnes. They could hold 500 litres of fuel.Their design was based on that of the electric multiple unit Mat' 46, though they had a lower roof and thinner walls in order to achieve a lower weight and less air resistance. They had 73 seats of which 65 were third class and eight were second class, which were divided among a smoking and non-smoking compartment.
All the parts of the railcars related to traction was placed under it. This included its 225 horsepower engine, AEC's type A220, which was equipped with a Brown Boveri exhaust turbine. This engine powered four HEEMAF type TM 51 traction engines with a maximum power of 66 kW and 337 A at 1130 RPM and a contineous power of 49 kW and 248 A at 1290 RPM.
The cooling system was of an enclosed Voith design. The cooling liquid was designed in such a way that it would give the engine's heat to an air heater and two cooling elements, which was used to heat the interior in the winter months. However, due to flaws in the design, the engine would heat up to near the shut off point on hot days. In such a case, the drivers were forced to turn on the heater, to the dismay of passengers.
The doors are placed at either end of the centre of the railcar, lower than the rest of the floor because many stations along the lines were the DE-1s would operate did not have raised platforms yet.
The bogies were of an, at the time, new design and were fitted with torsion bar suspension and fluid-based shock absorbers. The bogies originally had electric brakes, which would wear out slower than the standard braking blocks. However, the relatively light traction engines and their brake power created braking distances upwards of six kilometers. The electric brakes were later removed, though the main reason for this was that NS did not own the right equipment to properly test them.
Between 1966-1968, the DE-1s were fitted with ATB (Automatische Trein Beïnvloeding; the Dutch train security system), for which an additional cable pipe was fitted on the roof.
Trivia
- Before launch, a model was made for the DE-1, which was ultimately left unused before the game released.
- The DE-1 is the shortest DMU at 27,2 metres and slowest DMU, tied with the DE-2 at a respectable speed of 105 km/h.
- There is an anniversary version of the DE-1, the 2 year anniversary DE-1.
- The DE-1 was added in the game's first major update, version 0.2.
Doubleheading
Multiple unit compatibility
Diesel