CP Class 1800

The Série 1800 was a class of 10 diesel-electric locomotives built for the Portuguese Railways in 1968. Designed and engineered by English Electric, they were closely modelled on the British Rail Class 50 but built for CP's 1,668 mm Iberian gauge and a larger loading gauge than is possible in Great Britain. Like the Class 50 they had an English Electric 16CSVT engine producing 2,700 hp, but the Portuguese locomotives used conventional control gear instead of the extensive electronic control of the British ones. The main generator and traction motors were identical to those used on the BR Type 3 and Deltic locomotives, and the class was built to be closely compatible with the smaller CP Série 1400. When delivered they were the only diesel locomotives in Portugal authorised to run at 140 km/h, and by mid-1969 they had logged more than 4 million kilometres hauling heavier and faster trains than other CP classes.