ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE E 430 001

What you see before you is the first alternating current electric locomotive in the world. It was created for the Valtelline section of the Lecco-Sondrio line, one of the first railroad routes to experiment with electrification using hydroelectric plants. The engine used 3600 volt, 16.7 Hz frequency high-voltage three-phase current, a way of delivering power that made operation more secure and economical than continuous current lines. This was the ideal frequency for transmitting power from the motor to the wheels, without having to use gears that the era’s industry was not yet able to produce. Engineers from Switzerland were hired to address the technical characteristics of the 20 km Simplon Tunnel, solving the problem of steam locomotive fumes. The engine ran on the Valtelline routes until the late 1920s.