The Italian way of railcars

David Benton wrote:New Zealand's biggest railcar class were nicknamed the "fiats", after their Fiat underfloor engines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NZR_RM_class_(88_seater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).
Despite been unreliable, and prone to catching fire , they were the mainstay of rural services from the 1950's to the early 80's.

At the time of your railcars, Fiat and its subsidiaries were trying supercharged engines that gave problems for all their operating life. Let me arrive to the 50s, so we will be able to do comparison.
The link to Wikipedia seems to be empty.

Ciao

try this.
https://tinyurl.com/yc7z6hay" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

David Benton wrote:try this.
https://tinyurl.com/yc7z6hay" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is ok, thank you.
I know 700 engine; curious, normally it's not problematic.

Ciao

Thanks Benny.
From what I have heard and read, it is possibly their underfloor position that lead to overheating problems. Which is the English designers fault .

The 700 engine was the first flat one produced by Fiat to be specifically put underfloor in railroad use. Surely not the best engine of the world, however it has been utilized in RALn 60 (for narrow gauge) and ALn 64 FS railcars and, though used in warm weather, (Sicily and Calabria), I never heard of overheating or fires.
It's only my assumption but problems can came from cooling system or from badly connected hoses, like ATRs. Were the engines enclosed in a room or simply suspended to the chassis?

Ciao

In 1937 the Fiat railcar evolutioned to ALn 556.1200. Keeping the same mechanical parts of ALn 56.1000, radiators disappeared under shield-shaped masks on new, more rotund, front ends; more comfortable seats were installed and, far more important, for the first time there was the multiple control on an Italian railcar. This means that, through electropneumatic connections, the driver of a unit can remotely drive another coupled unit avoiding waste of personnel and with obvious improvements to the run.
After the first 99 railcars (ALn 556.1201-1299), more powerful engines (77 against 55 kw) and some other minor modifications gave way to ALn 556.1301-1400. The last eight units born as mixed passenger/luggage/mail vehicles but were quickly transformed to sole passenger use.
Widespread, they served honestly until mid-70s. Today ALn 556.1202 is a static exhibit at the National Railway Museum in Pietrarsa. ALn 556.1236 and 1277 (the one of my avatar), that were sold many years ago to Ferrovia Suzzara Ferrara, returned to the FS historical foundation and now are in Milano Smistamento depot waiting for restoring.

ALn 556.1389 and two more sisters were caught by B. Studer in 1971 at Bergamo station, having just arrived from Lecco. In cases like this one it was needed a second driver because the first one can remotely control only another unit. Photo courtesy of Photorail.
The old Paola to Cosenza FS line was partly rack equipped because of the high gradients and, to avoid the complications of steam trains (loco always at the lower end of the train, need of a special braking coach etc), Fiat built ten railcars derived from ALn 556.1300 but (stupidly) without multiple control and with all the four axles powered. Railcars didn't use the rack to go uphill because of better adherence and the fault of parasite movements but a cogwheel was fitted on each bogie to be used as a safety brake on the rack-equipped sections.
They gave a honest service, always on the same line, until the beginning of the 80's and today only one unit exists, in the Gold Coast Railway Museum in Miami.

Instead W. Hardmeier shooted ALn 56.1906 in Paola station when it was stopping after a run from Cosenza. These units were also called automotrici a completa aderenza (full adherence railcars) to distinguish them from the others that had only two powered axles. Photo courtesy of Photorail. After the beginning of WWII were also produced some armoured railcars based on the mechanical parts of ALn 556.1300. They were nicknamed LIBLI (acronym of LIttorina BLIndata or armoured littorina), were used to patrol the railway lines in Jugoslavia and were used not only by the Italian army but also by the German one.
Today two units survive, inside the De Enriquez war museum in Trieste.

One of the armoured littorinas based on Fiat ALn 556. The image was taken inside the builder's plant and the railcar is surrounded by Madrid trams. Photo by Fiat historical center, from the book of D. Molino and S. Pautasso "Le automotrici della prima generazione", Edizioni Elledi 1983. Ciao

Armored Fiats! Now those are interesting machines. Had no idea that these existed. Thanks for sharing!

NorthWest wrote:Armored Fiats! Now those are interesting machines. Had no idea that these existed. Thanks for sharing!

Certainly different. I Would have though it would have some kind of strenghtened cow catcher at the front. Looks vulnerable to a attack by placing objects on the track to me.

NorthWest wrote:Armored Fiats! Now those are interesting machines. Had no idea that these existed. Thanks for sharing!

Certainly different. I Would have though it would have some kind of strenghtened cow catcher at the front. Looks vulnerable to a attack by placing objects on the track to me.

David Benton wrote:

NorthWest wrote:Armored Fiats! Now those are interesting machines. Had no idea that these existed. Thanks for sharing!

Certainly different. I Would have though it would have some kind of strenghtened cow catcher at the front. Looks vulnerable to a attack by placing objects on the track to me.

One of the weaknesses of armored vehicles is that a bomb on the ground can destroy the chance of motion, if not the entire tank, and in armored trains this is worsened by the fact that it's easy to block them putting big obstacles on the rails.
Surely a cowcatcher can help but... if the bomb is under the track?
However, I read somewhere that railroads in Croatia ran in so savage places that the sole way to patrol them was by means of armored rail vehicles.

Ciao

Sorry, it has been a difficult parturition .

Until now I related about Fiat products, but we can't forget the other "big mama" of the Italian railcars: Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, one of the biggest mechanical and engineering industries, that for nearly a century built trains and much more.
In 1933, concomitantly with the Fiat vehicles, Breda gave to FS three prototype railcars (ALb 72.201-203) with a harsh but aerodynamic aesthetic, 72 seats and only one axle powered by a gasoline engine through a Wilson mechanical gearbox. Their experimental vocation made that, after only two years they were transformed with diesel engines and few years after, sold to Tranvia Bologna-Pieve-Malalbergo (TBPM), a tramway in Emilia Romagna region.
A builder's image of ALb72.203. Photo Breda from internet. Ciao

In 1935 was the time of two small series (ALb 56.201-210 and ALn 56.2001-2010) of railcars with a better design, 56 seats, two engines powering an axle each one through Wilson gearboxes (that became a Breda trademark) and a speed of 140 km/h.
The two series were made to compare gasoline and diesel engines and differed only on it. They were moved by a Breda T 10 gasoline engine (studied for artillery tractors) or a British AEC diesel one built under license by the same Breda.
The Breda vehicles resulted more comfortable than the Fiat ones thanks to better bogies, the separation between passengers room and driving cabs and lower vibrations due to a more efficient suspension system.
In these series, as soon as in ALb 72.201-203, radiators were in the front ends and each engine had an half of the cooling surface at an extremity and the other half at the opposite one but the cooling system resulted the main problem of Bredas: because of the length of pipelines and the water pump directly moved by the engine (so depending of the revolutions), it was possible the rising of air bubbles that blocked water circulation and waves in the pipes that resulted in radiator plug explosion; instead, in cold weather, the excess of cooling damaged the front engine due to thermic shock (this is why Fiat units were equipped with a textile "bib" during winter).
To be noted that, at the same time, Breda produced also three van-railcars (ALDb 201-203) that, as the Fiat ones, had an ephemere life.
Definitely abandoned the gasoline engine, in 1937 began the series production (ALn 56.2011-2090)with various changes from the first units: the expansion braking left to the classic one on the rims, the engine was made entirely in steel and cast iron instead of having some parts in aluminum and, more important, radiators were put on the bogies and used only by the adjacent engine shortening very much the pipelines and changing the front ends that now only had some louvers to help air circulation.
Finally, between 1938 and 1940, were produced 140 units with multiple control and classified ALn 556.2201-2340.

During WW2 nearly all the railcars were dumped or used as coaches because of the fuel fault and because some engines were requisitioned to power navy units. Many of them were heavily damaged by bombings and in the afterwar, during reconstruction, the prototype series (ALb 56.201-210 and ALn 56.2001-2010), being non standard, were ceded, together with other units that FS considered not convenient to repair, to granted railroads that rebuilt them generally using GM 6/71 engines coming from US Army war remnants.
To solve the overheating problems and the fault of power of the AEC engine, Breda studied a radical modification that was implemented taking advantage of the recovery of damaged railcars. Engines were substituted with the model D17, a Breda evolution of the AEC with lower speed but 25% more powerful and a new water pump was installed. Radiators were put on the sides just at the back of the driving cabs and cooled by four electric fans each one. After these interventions the maximum speed was lowered to 120 km/h and problems diminished, though will be never eliminated.
So modified, the Breda railcars worked more than thirty years as the last services were around 1980. Being the Wilson gearbox very suitable for mountainous lines, they became a familiar presence in various central-southern branch lines as soon as in the Trentino Alto Adige region and depots of Fortezza, Fabriano, Sulmona, Benevento and Campobasso had decades of experience with the Bredas.
Today two units still exist: ALn 556.2331 is part of the historic fleet of FS foundation and ALn 556.2312 is a static exhibit at the National Railway Museum in Pietrarsa.

An unidentified ALb 56 Breda was shooted during a test run at Premosello, on the Simplon line, around 1935. Prototypes had radiators on the front ends. Photo by Breda, from the book of D. Molino and S. Pautasso "Le automotrici della prima generazione", Edizioni Elledi 1983. ALn 56.2079 is resting in Campobasso depot between two services in 1978. It's clearly visible the radiator on the side, between the cab and the door. Photo by B. Studer courtesy of Photorail.

Mr. W. Hardmeier catch ALn 556.2332 and a sister leaving Brunico, on the scenic Fortezza to San Candido and Austria line in 1974. Note the alpine style of the station building and the three connectors for multiple control on the front end. Image courtesy of Photorail. Ciao

In September this year ALn 556.2331 has been the star of a special photographic run organized by a group of railfans on the splendid and regrettably closed to normal traffic Sulmona to Carpinone line.

A magnificent image taken on a viaduct near Carovilli. And at the mechanical protection signal of Roccaraso. The two images by S. Paolini courtesy of Photorail.
To watch more images of this event (there have been four days of special trains):
http://smf.photorail.com/index.php?topic=17846.0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ciao

Thanks! They are all much more angular than the Fiats. Nice to see that some are still around.

To complete the part about first generation railcars (generally with this title are intended the railcars with engine put on the bogie) it can be interesting to spend some words on the unfortunate prototypes of other firms.

With the idea of entering the rising railcars market, Ansaldo projected a state of the art vehicle with egg shaped front ends and V8 engines so open that, still resting on the bogies, they don't occupied space into the cabs and, theoretically, made possible the passage between units.
But the most important feature was that, because of the limitations internationally imposed to Italy, there were the classic diesel version and an alternative fuel version that used carbon monoxide produced directly on the railcar to power modified engines.
Approximately in the middle of the car, in front of the toilet, there was a room, accessible only from outside because of the highly poisoning gas, containing two gas generators, sort of ovens where charcoal was burnt with scarce oxygen to produce carbon monoxide to feed the engines (during wartime many road vehicles have been equipped with this device).
In 1936 FS ordered three prototypes diesel powered and three with "gasogens" but the military commitments made that construction proceeded very slowly and only in 1940 they were handed to FS.
After a little time in the Florence area, the diesel units (ALn 56.4001-4003) were sidelined because of the fuel restrictions; instead the gas ones (ALg 56. 401-403) were appreciated on Florence-Grosseto direct trains though they needed frequent servicing to refill gas generators and to expel slag as steam locomotives.
From 1942 the gas eaters were transferred to Mantova depot, were yet there were.
CNG-converted Fiat units, but the fault of spare parts made them to be dumped quickly.

Brand new ALg 56.401 still inside Ansaldo factory. Note the stair to recharge the gasogens. Photo Ansaldo from internet.

At the end of the war the six Ansaldos resulted damaged and looted. ALg 56.401 was scrapped and the remnants were sold to the granted Ferrovia Mantova Peschiera (FMP) that from the five wrecks outshopped three railcars re-engined with the 6/71s from the US Army tanks.

The first rebuilt railcar for FMP is arriving to its new home. Very interesting also the Diamond tractor ex US.Army and the escorting policeman with the Moto Guzzi bike. Photo Calzolari courtesy of Photorail.

In 1967, when the FMP was (stupidly) closed, the railcars were sold to Società Veneta (SV), a company that built and managed various secondary railroads. The cars were again rebuilt, this time as trailers, and assigned to the Mestre-Adria line where they remained in service until the new millennium.

Trailer Cd 353 waiting in Piove di Sacco depot for next service in 1993. Who can imagine that 60 years before it was probably the most innovative between the first generation railcars? Photo by S. Paolini courtesy of Photorail. It follows...

Ciao