SNCF Class CC 72000

The SNCF Class CC 72000 was a class of diesel-electric locomotives with two three-axle bogies, designed and built by the French conglomerate Alsthom and regarded as the most powerful class of diesel locomotives built in France. Ninety-two locomotives numbered CC 72001 to CC 72092 were produced between 1967 and 1974 for mixed passenger and high speed freight traffic on the major lines SNCF had not electrified. Each locomotive had one SACM 16 cylinder four-stroke diesel engine of 3,550 horsepower, or 2,650 kilowatts, driving an alternator, with two traction motors on monomotor bogies and two-speed gearing: a freight regime limited to 85 kilometres per hour and a passenger regime of 140 or 160. The first was delivered on 20 December 1967 from Alsthom's Belfort works. Fourteen similar locomotives were built for Morocco in 1969, 30 were rebuilt with SEMT Pielstick engines as the CC 72100 between 2002 and 2004, and the last regular workings of the type were in August 2019.