WAM Series Part-I

The first locomotive in this series were WAM 1. They were the first AC traction locomotives in India. The WAM1 was not only India’s very first AC electric locomotive but also the great granddaddy of all Indian AC electric locomotives. The WAM1 (and WAG1) was designed according the SNCF locomotive design philosophy of the 1950s and 1960s to look like a CC 7100 or BB 16000, and since we never bothered to change our designs, all WAM and WAG series locomotives (except some WAG7s and the WAG9) look like a 1950s French locomotive. All WAM1s are out of service today. The initial WAM1s were not great successes as some of their features were just too advanced for Indian conditions, though they were terrific performers in Europe. It had only 4 axles, 2 each on its two bogies, driven by four DC traction motors (Bo-Bo) through a “Jacquemin drive” or through a set of gears. (The WAG1 which was produced along with this had only two traction motors on Monomotor B-B bogies!) They came with Ignitron (water-cooled Mercury-ignited) rectifiers for AC-DC conversion but were later retrofitted with Excitron (externally ignited) rectifiers which were more suitable for Indian use. The WAM1 “evolved” down the line into various variants and classes, making all of India’s single-phase electric locomotives until the WAP4 and WAG7 either direct descendants of the WAM1 or inspirations. They had a rated power output of 3010 hp, top speed of 100 kmph and production period is from 1959 to 1961. This was a very successful locomotive in history of Indian Railways and 100 units were produced in the span of 3 years.