The central cab of historic loco 686 of Rheinbraun (now RWE Power), a member of
the EL 2 class. It seems that the box containing all the electrical
switches was simply put into the middle of the cab. So the driver had to
operate the traction levers more or less behind his back, while the brake levers
were located in front of him below the window. These locos were designed for
1200 V DC. This system was used around the briquette factory Wachtberg in
Frechen and on the line towards Cologne (which also is an interurban tram line).
Later the catenary around Wachtberg was removed (trains in this area are now
moved by diesel locos) and the voltage on the interurban tram line was reduced
to 750 V, leading to a complete disappearance of the 1200 V network
and making these locos redundant. The picture was taken at the opencast mine
Garzweiler (north west of Cologne) on 12 August 2007, at a rail vehicle
exhibition in the course of an open day.
<p>
Digital photo by
<a href="http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/christoph.schmitz2/index.html">Christoph
Schmitz</a>
(<a href="mailto:christoph.schmitz2@post.rwth-aachen.de">christoph.schmitz2@post.rwth-aachen.de</a>)