The Plan U, officially called the DE-3, was the name given to a series of 42 Dutch Bo'Bo'+2'2'+2'2' (a carriage with two bogies with two powered axles each followed by two carriages, each with two bogies with two unpowered axles) diesel-electric multiple units. Their red livery earned them the nickname "Rode duivels" (Red devils).
 | |
| Plan U | |
|---|---|
| by Supersnel11 | |
| Price | ƒ333.000 |
| Level | 57 |
| Statistics | |
| Train type | Diesel |
| Top Speed | 125 km/h |
| Weight | 136 tons |
| Capacity | 24 first class 168 second class |
| Comfort Rating | Good |
| Length | 72,8 meters |
Liveries
The Plan U is only available in Nederlandsche Spoorwegen red.
Historic details
Service years
The Plan U was designed to replace older diesels on increasingly busy lines. Originally, 15 were ordered at Werkspoor, who delivered the first on August 11th, 1960. This Plan U, numbered 111, performed so well that the initial order was expanded with another 15 and yet another 12 in 1961. The rest of the series would be put into service as 110-152 throughout the early 60s.
After the first five Plan Us had been delivered, they were used between Dordrecht and Geldermalsen, where they gradually took over the time tables until it was consisted exclusively of Plan U. Afterwards, they would be used to exploit the lines Nijmegen - Roermond and Zwolle - Emmen. Following this, they would spread to the province Noord-Holland whilst keeping 16 services from Zwolle, from which they would sometimes travel down to Utrecht and Den Haag. They would mostly drive on unelectrified, busy lines though they would infrequently be used on electrified lines.
In the 1970s, NS introduced their new yellow 'huisstijl' livery. The Plan U were painted in this livery between 1969-1973.
They would remain a common sight on the busier unelectrified lines, leaving the calmer ones to the DE-1 and DE-2. In the late 1990s, they would begin losing available services, which continued into the 2000s. The last time a Plan U drove an NS train was on 13 December, 2003.
The first Plan U to be scrapped was 143 after an incident in 1991 at Melderslo. Plans to withdrawn the other 41 resulted in the final plan to replace them with more modern multiple units between 1997 and 2000. This begins with five (111, 120, 123, 132 & 144) being withdrawn in 1997. Due to the introduction of the DH-1 and DH-2 in 1998 and the subsequent shifting around of rolling stock resulted in only four Plan Us (124, 131, 136 & 146). Another 10 were planned, but due to troubles of other multiple units, only an additional seven (127, 129, 139, 140, 145, 148 & 149) were withdrawn. The following year only the 111, 123, 136 & 139.
After the last Plan U were withdrawn in 2003, fifteen were conserved in 2004 in the case that they could be sold instead of scrapped. These were the Plan U 116, 117, 119, 121, 125, 126, 134, 147, 150, 151, 191-194 & 195 (See technical details for the numbers on these last five).
Sold to other countries
Slovakia
After the conservation of 15 Plan U, the 116, 117, 121, 125, 191 & 193 were sold to the Slovakian railway Bratislavská regionálna koľajová spoločnost (BKRS). They were later joined by the 194 and 195, who would be used to provide parts to the others. However, only the 125 and 193 would end up in Bratislava. The 117 and 191 were also prepared to be shipped but were never sent because the BKRS did not pay for them. The 117 was set aside fully operational whilst the 191 had already been painted.
The others (116, 117, 151, 191 & 195) were still stored, though faced some difficulties. Because the NS workshops closed, there would be no more parts available outside of the Plan Us owned by heritage organisations. With some work, it would be possible to get three operational multiple units out of these five, which makes selling them difficult.
The 125 and 193 would be scrapped in Bratislava in 2012.
Romania
In August of 2011, the trains were sold to Ferotrans TFI SRL in Romania. The 116, 117, 151, 191 & 195 were brought to Stichting Historisch Dieselmaterieel (Historic diesel trains Foundation) who swapped the 151 for their 113 because the 151 was in a better state than the 113.
In December, 2012, news came that Ferotrans was unable to transport the multiple units, which ultimately resulted in the deal not going through. In 2014, it was announced that the five Plan Us would be scrapped.
Preservation
Despite the plans, heritage railways managed to save four Plan Us from being scrapped. They changed ownership a few times as some organisations ceased to exist and ended up at the following organisations:
| Number(s) | Owned by | Operational | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 114 | Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum (NSM) | Yes | Red livery |
| 115 | Stichting 2454CREW (Dutch link) | No | Supplies parts to 151 |
| 121 | Stichting Historisch Dieselmatereel (Dutch link) (SHD) | No | Red livery |
| 151 | 2454CREW | Yes | Yellow livery |
Technical details
The Plan Us were 74,4 meters long, 278 cm wide, 376,6 cm tall and weighed 136 tonnes. They could hold 1.675 litres of fuel.
The multiple units were powered by a Werkspoor type RUHB 1616 16-cylinder diesel engine, which had intercooling and two pressure groups. It could deliver 1.000 horsepower at at 1.400 RPM with an idle speed of 800 RPM. The engine powers a HEEMAF type GMT 104a generator which delivered a power of 625 kW at 700 volts. The generator, in turn, powers four traction engines. These Vickers AEI type MV 139 would sometimes be HEEMAF type GT 38-22, which had the same specifications: 147 kW at 700 volts. Additionally, they were equipped with a secondary generator of the HEEMAF type GMT 370/20, which provided the control current, lighting and heating. The secondary generators provided 30 kW at 145 which gave the Plan Us a total power of 588 kW.
These engines are mounted in a manner similar to the method used in trams. The traction engine rests on a cast steel sleeve, which is mounted on the shaft with two conical bearings. Two covers are used to clamp the engine housing to the cast steel sleeve. The nose of the engine is mounted to the bogie with rubber. The engine shaft is driven by a pinion that meshes with a fixed gear on the wheel axle. The gear ratio is 17:65.
The Plan Us were designed for a top speed of 140 km/h, though would use a top speed of 125 km/h in service as this was the maximum allowed line speed in the Netherlands at the time.
The design of the nose is based on that of the DE-4, better known as the RAm TEE. It was made rounder to combat rain drops that could splash onto window which worked sufficiently well that it was later re-used on the electric mat' 64.
The wheels have a diameter of 95 mm.
Trivia
- In the consist creator, the destination boards show "Dokmuiden Airport" despite only shunters being able to go there at this time.
- The Plan U is the highest capacity DMU, despite being shorter than all the TEE DMUs, and only having 2 full cars, along with half a motor car equipped with seats.
- The Plan U was added 956 days after the TEEs, which was the last addition to the DMUs prior to the Plan U.
- A trailer was made for the Plan Us release into the game, something that hadn't been done since the initial release of DMUs.
- You can watch the trailer here.
- The music used in the trailer has not been heard nor used anywhere else, and is a blend of the original and current Streamlined theme songs.
- Owners of the Double Heading gamepass should be allowed to have 3 Plan U units in one consist, but due to the current length limit, this is not the case as 3 units would be well over the 175 meter limit.
- During the 2023 April Fools event Screamlined, a diesel locomotive called "Plan Tijn" was available which closely resembled the front unit of a plan U.
- The Plan U was added in version 0.4.51.
Gallery
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The 2023 April Fools event Plan Tijn.
Doubleheading
The Plan U can be driven with two units. Owners of the Double Heading gamepass can use three units, once the length limit gets increased.