The G 1206 is a diesel locomotive for mainline and shunting service, which was developed by Maschinenbau Kiel shortly before it was taken over by Vossloh. It formed the basis of many developments by the new owner and is still offered today as the Vossloh G 1206. So far, over 200 units have been delivered to customers in nine European countries, both state and private railways.

The exterior of the locomotive differs little from its predecessors, which can be traced back to the G 1201 BB of 1978. The machinery is housed in a long and a short hood, between which the driver's cab is located. There are two driver's desks with which the driver can quickly change direction.

Diesel engines of the MTU series 396 or 4000 or the Caterpillar 3512B are used, which have an output of 2,012 or 2,105 hp. With a top speed of either 80, 90 or 100 km/h, the G 1206 is also suitable for line service, although its appearance evokes associations with a shunting locomotive. Most engines have a shunting gear that allows a maximum of 60 km/h. Since 2007, the G 1206-2 has been a variant specially designed for shunting service. In addition to reducing the speed to 50 km/h, it received weaker engines with only 1,234 hp. 

In Germany, the locomotives are mainly used by various private railways, but 20 units were also rented from the DB subsidiary Railion. They were assigned to the class 266, which includes various leased locomotives. The Swedish Banverket uses six engines with a top speed of 100 km/h and in Luxembourg some run as CFL series 1500. The French SNCF took 23 examples, most of which were delivered with Caterpillar engines.

The G 1700-2 BB was created from the MaK G 1206, which was later called the Vossloh G 1700 BB. The standard version has 1,700 kW, which can also be read from the model designation. Depending on the desired axle load and tractive force, a weight of between 80 and 90 tonnes is possible. This also influences the fuel capacity. Most of the locomotives went in small numbers of a maximum of five to individual customers in Central Europe and Spain.

Am 843 062 in March 2014 in Zimeysa, Geneva

Markus Eigenheer

The largest customer are the Swiss Federal Railways, which use a total of 73 units as Am 843. They are intended for shunting service and connecting tracks that are not fully electrified. They have an engine with only 1,500 kW and a particle filter. As an adaptation to Switzerland, these have the driver's cab on the left. Five locomotives for use in south-west Germany have an additional driver's cab on the right.