The Renfe Class 353, formerly known as the T-3000 are a class of

diesel-hydraulic locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

s built by

Krauss-Maffei KraussMaffei is a German manufacturer of injection molding machines, machines for plastics extrusion technology, and reaction process machinery. It was acquired by ChemChina in 2016. History Locomotives KraussMaffei was formed in 1931 from a me ...

for express trains in Spain.

Background and design

The class could be described as the bigger and better version of the Renfe Class 352, being similar in design, and from the same builder, but with more power and also two cabins to simplify operation. They were delivered between 1968 and 1969, built to a similar two-engined hydraulic transmission design as the Class 352 but with

Maybach Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and ...

12-cylinder engine developing more power, (at 1600 rpm) each, giving a tractive effort of . Built with two interior walkways via the cabins, the locomotives were a little heavier than their predecessors at . The locomotives were fitted with coupling screws and Scharfenberg couplers. Auxiliary generators provide electrical power for the coaches. Two sets of standard gauge bogies were also supplied, for cross border work (

bogie exchange Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the bogies or trucks (the chassis cont ...

). The locomotives were painted in red-silver.

Operations

A total of five diesel were acquired to pull the Talgo III coaches at a record speed of over . Their commission was related to the inauguration of the Talgo III RD (dual gauge) coached train from

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

to Paris via

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...

, Vitoria, Hendaya and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. The trains also worked other international trains such as

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

via

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...

, Montpellier and

Culoz Culoz ( or ) is a former commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. On 1 January 2023, it was merged into the new commune of Culoz-Béon. Geography The town, which is situated on the right bank of the River ...

, and the Paris to Barcelona; taking charge of the train after it passed the change of gauge to broad

Iberian gauge Iberian gauge ( es, ancho ibérico, trocha ibérica, pt, bitola ibérica) is a track gauge of , most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal. This is the second-widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world. The Indian gauge, , ...

at the stations of

Irún Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Sp ...

and

Portbou Portbou () is a town in the Alt Empordà county, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of people (). Portbou is located near the French border in the Costa Brava region, and frequently serves as a dropping off poin ...

. In May 1972, one of them reached a speed of between Guadalajara and

Azuqueca de Henares Azuqueca de Henares is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2013 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 34.685 inhabitants. The mayor of Azuqueca is José Luis Blanco. Hi ...

. Between

Alcázar de San Juan Alcázar de San Juan is a city and municipality of Spain located in the province of Ciudad Real, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. It lies on the plain of La Mancha. From the 13th to the 19th century the history of Alcázar is strongly ...

and Rio Záncara, on 4 May 1978, 353-001 reached , for some time the class held the world speed record for diesel traction. The mass electrifications in the eighties reduced the radius of action of both the Class 352 and Class 353, operating primarily in the axes

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

/ Lisbon, Granada /

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

/ Cartagena and direct corridor from Madrid to

. The standard gauge bogies found a use unexpected at the time of the locomotives inception – in 1991 was used to tow a Talgo Pendular train on the high speed Madrid to

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

AVE ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...

line. The class was retired on 25 September 2003. The 353-005-2 is preserved in working condition at the museum of Vilanova.

Fleet details

References

* *

External links

Photographs of the Class 353
''fototrenes.tranvia.org'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Renfe Class 353 353 B-B locomotives Talgo Diesel locomotives of Spain Renfe high-speed trains Standard gauge locomotives of Spain 5 ft 6 in gauge locomotives Passenger locomotives

Background and design

Operations

Fleet details

See also

References

External links