SNCF Class BB 16500

The BB 16500 were single-phase 25 kV/50 Hz, medium-power machines, built in the Alsthom factories in Belfort .

Each locomotive consisted of a chassis which supported the two driver's cabs and three removable covers, each of which includes part of the sides and the roof, and the end covers supporting the pantographs. The shape of the body, 14.40 m (47.2 ft) long , was inspired by those of the first CC 7100s . It included, when the locomotives were first put into service, cab glazing allowing a wide panoramic view thanks to the provision of corner windows. These were replaced by sheet metal uprights during major overhauls of the locomotives between 1965 and 1970.[5]

The power train incorporates a large part of the elements already used on the BB 12000 and BB 16000 classes. The rectifiers, two mercury vapor igniters, supply the traction motors with rectified and smoothed current. As deliveries and technical improvements progressed, the ignitrons were replaced by later types of rectifiers, then finally by silicon diodes; this last type, more powerful, is finally applied to the whole of the seriesduring overhauls.[6]

As provided for in the specifications, the short-wheelbase, 1.608 m (5 ft 3.3 in), single-engine bogies had a gear ratio change that could be operated when stationary,[5] a device that sometimes tended to jam;[7] three sets of reduction gears, with slightly different ratios, were fitted to the locomotives.[8] The first batch, BB 16501 to BB 16654, had a suspension by elastic return legs and pivots; while the remaining locomotives, BB 16655 to BB 16794, had a pendular suspension.[8][lower-alpha 2] To improve cab comfort, the fitting of a double-decker suspension, replacing the original systems in place, was carried out on 120 locomotives from 1998 to 2003.[10]

294 members of the class were built in six years. They were ordered in several successive stages, as electrification progressed in the north and east.[11] In 2021, they constitute the largest series of electric locomotives ordered by the SNCF. The class was also the first member of the BB Alsthom family which also includes 146 BB 8500 (some rebuilt as class BB 88500 or BB 8700),[12] 105 BB 17000,[13] 13 BB 20200[14] and 194 BB 25500.[15]

The BB 16500s carried, during their careers, a great variety of liveries, some concerning only a few locomotives, sometimes very temporarily.[9]

The first BB 16500s left the factory were uniformly green, without any decoration. The next batch were put into service in a light bluish green livery with a "Celtic green" band at the bottom of the body but the light bluish green was quickly replaced with a darker shade.[2] In 1970-71, and like their cousins the BB 8500 , BB 17000 and BB 25500, they adopted a dark green colour enhanced with white stripes on the sides, framing the ventilation louvres, themselves painted in dark grey, a colour repeated on the fronts in the form of "moustaches". The reporting numbers were daffodil yellow. BB 16595 and BB 16625, withdrawn on 26 March 26, 2002 and 15 December 2003, were the last locomotives to have kept this livery until the end of their career.[16]

The "concrete" livery, grey with orange bands, was used on a large number of SNCF engines from the 1980s, including 278 BB 16500s.[17]

On an experimental basis, BB 16604 and BB 16789 were repainted between 1992 and 1998 with the "Arzens livery", composed of grey and "havana brown" for one, and grey and "garrigue green" for the other, with orange moustaches. Though not extended to any more BB 16500s, this livery was also successfully applied to many BB 9400s.[18][16]

The five BB 16500s of the "dromedary trains", assigned to the TER Picardie, were painted in concrete grey with front faces and the frame of the shutters in "parrot green".[19]

Seven of the 156 machines dedicated to the freight sector received, in the early 2000s, a livery of green, grey and white arranged in a "Neapolitan slice".[20]

BB 16583, withdrawn on 8 October 2009, is the only one to have worn the "Île-de-France" livery, which was much more common among BB 17000s.[16]

• BB 16500 liveries
• 
  BB 16684, light bluish green with a "Celtic green" band.
• 
  BB 16527, Dark green with white stripes (Lille, 1995).
• 
  BB 16705, Concrete
  (Amiens, 2009).
• 
  BB 16592, TER Picardie
  (Amiens, 2009).
• 
  BB 16500, Fret (Predeal, Roumanie, 2016).

Deliveries of BB 16500s commenced on 25 July 1958 with BB 16501, assigned to the Strasbourg depot, and ended on 26 November 1964 with BB 16794, commissioned at Paris-La Chapelle.[21]

SNCF BB 16698 with RRR set at Trouville-Deauville, 2004

The first locomotives were used in 1958 on the Luxembourg – Metz – Strasbourg – Basel route , where their performance immediately exceeded the requirements of the specification, then on the northern suburbs of Paris, whose lines had just been electrified. Their radius of action was rapidly expanding as the north-eastern network was electrified. In 1965, a quota was allotted to Dole, where they hauled international trains like the Orient-Express, sometimes double headed.[22]

At the end of 1964, the class was complete and the north-east network being fully electrified, the BB 16500s provided very varied services in an area ranging from Dunkirk to Paris and Vallorbe.[23] However, the BB 25500 , dual-current heirs to the BB 16500, were introduced on the Jura lines and began to replace them in the spring of 1965, completely supplanting them by 1968. In the Paris region, the new BB 17000s, also derived from the BB 16500s, took over much of the northern suburban train operation from 1965.[13] The BB 16500s then found new uses on the lines in the north-west of France, towards Le Havre, Deauville and Cherbourg.[24]

The BB 16500s were little appreciated by drivers because of the uncomfortable ride linked to their overly flexible suspension and the short wheelbase of their bogies , hence their nickname "dancers". Nevertheless they operated a wide range of services during their careers: suburban, regional and international passenger trains, freight trains of all types, including trains over 3,000 t (3,000 long tons; 3,300 short tons). The decline of the class began at the end of the 1990s, on the Transilien Paris-Est network, with the opening of line E of the RER. The trains that they hauled were partly replaced by the Z 22500 railcars, though they worked the Bondy – Aulnay shuttle until 2003, then disappeared from the network. Some of their services were taken over by BB 17000s. In the main regions where they operated, orders for electric multiple units for the TER service and the massive order for new generation Alstom locomotives for freight confirmed their gradual decline[25] despite good reliability, which remained remarkable in the early years of the 21st century, with only five incidents recorded per million kilometers traveled.[5]

Despite their slow decline, the BB 16500 saw a reprieve within the TER sectors in the 2000s . They were used in combination with regional reversible trains (RRR) and only these locomotives, along with the BB 17000s and BB 25500s could fulfill this requirement. Thus for the operation of the TER Métrolor, the Lorraine region used several of the Thionville based BB 16500s from 2000.[5]

16628 at Reims, 2008

The withdrawal of the class began in 2001, and by 2004, 111 locomotives had been withdrawn.[10] BB 16500s no longer hauled freight trains, which were taken over by the BB 27000s . The remaining contingent (including locomotives in Fret livery which retained their colours, the TER logo replacing that of Fret,[26]) was redeployed to provide TER trains, particularly in Nord-Pas-de-Calais , Picardie , Haute and Lower Normandy , Champagne-Ardenne , Alsace and Ile-de-France.[27]

On 17 October 2009, a farewell tour was organized in Lorraine to mark the end of the use of these locomotives. The route taken was Thionville – Hagondange – Metz – Sarrebourg – Blainville - Damelevières – Nancy – Conflans-Jarny – Longuyon – Thionville. During this route, the Waville viaduct was used although it is not normally accessible for passenger trains. The last BB 16500 left the region at the end of 2009.[28]

By August 2010, the use of this class was significantly reduced. There were only 15 locomotives still in circulation, providing the last loco-hauled services on the TER Picardie and TER Nord-Pas-de-Calais lines. In September 2010, the last 9 locomotives were withdrawn. The last member of the class, BB 16651, was withdrawn on 9 September 2011 from Lens depot after having worked its last train on 1 September.[29]

• Collardy, Bernard (2001). "BB 16500 : la force du nombre". Rail Passion. 46 (February): 42–63.
• Collardy, Bernard (2009). "BB 16500, des vétérans coriaces". Rail Passion. 138 (April): 27.
• Constant, Olivier (2008). Encyclopédie du matériel moteur SNCF: Les locomotives et automotrices 25000 V monophasé. Paris: Le Train.
• Cuny, Vincent (2010). "Les danseuses quittent la scène sur la pointe des pieds". Ferrovissime. 25 (March): 50–60.
• Defrance, Jacques (1978). Le matériel moteur de la SNCF. La Vie du Rail.
• Fieux, Loïc (2005). "1956-1965 : 10 ans de la genèse à l'apogée des BB 16500". Correspondance Ferroviaires. 18 (May): 32–39.
• Redoutey, Denis (2007). Le matériel moteur de la SNCF. Paris: Les Éditions La Vie du rail. ISBN 978-2-9150-3465-3.

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