FS Class E.333

The FS Class E.333 was a class of electric locomotives of the Italian state railways, the Ferrovie dello Stato, powered by three-phase alternating current and in service from 1923 to 1968. They were designed by Kalmán Kandó for hauling fast passenger trains on flat or moderately steep lines and were built by the company Ing Nicola Romeo of Saronno, with the Mechanical and Naval Workshops of Naples subcontracted for mechanical parts of the later units. Forty units were ordered, delivered between September 1923 and December 1924. They had a 1'C1' wheel arrangement, two identical 800 kW traction motors and a maximum speed of 75 km/h, with four fixed speeds reached by switching between 12 and 8 poles and using cascade or parallel connections. Sharing the electrical equipment of the E.552 class, they inherited its weak starting effort and were modified from 1926. By 1968 only seven remained, and E.333.026 is preserved at the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa.