by jsimantov » Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:45 pm
Hi everyone,
The 'Siemens' es, as they were commonly nicknamed operated mostly heavy passenger trains on the Athens-Thessaloniki line. They were, to my knowledge, never used beyond Thessaloniki, mainly because it was not long before these locomotives acquired the reputation of being too sensitive and axle-trouble prone. The really bad state of the Thessaloniki-Alexandroupoli line at that time (we're talking about the late 60s-early 70s) precluded them from working that section of the network.
Apparently, these engines were quite sophisticated for the Greek Railway environment, and towards the end of the 70s most of them were converted to spare part warehouses for the few who were still operational. They occasionally worked Athens to Volos and Athens to Lianokladi stopping passenger trains, and I have photographed myself No 403, possible the last remaining engine in working order, in Athens in 1981. I'll post the pic in the forum.
There was a rumor in the late 70s that Siemens/Jung had offered to repair these engines but somehow OSE refused the offer...
Summarizing, the A401s were never popular with the Greek railwaymen; back in those days, the latter have always had the tendency to compare every locomotive class with the ALCO A300s...
All The Best,
Joseph