French State Railway BB 8100

The last iteration in the line of electric locomotives called “BB Midi” was the BB 8100. It was the second class in the line that was procured by the SNCF, but had nearly twice the power of the BB 300 introduced in 1938. In contrast to this, the BB 8100 had a welded body. With a top speed of 105 km/h, it was used in freight and passenger service. Similar locomotives were the NS 1100 and the E 700 of ONCF (Morocco).

Starting in the sixties, when new locomotives had been introduced for passenger traffic, the BB 8100 was almost exclusively used in freight traffic. For this, they were equipped with multiple controls. With two at the front, trains of up to 3,200 tonnes were hauled on the level. The same weight could also be hauled over the 0.7 percent incline between Tarascon and Nîmes when one of the locomotives was used as a pusher.

Of the 172 locomotives built between 1947 and 1955, the first ones were withdrawn in 1988. Starting in 1995, twelve were rebuilt to the BB 80000 shunter. In this process the top speed was reduced to 80 km/h and the controls were changed to allow for running at very low speed. While the last locomotives in freight service were withdrawn by 2003, the last shunter survived until 2011.