What is the colour scheme of Indian locomotives under the Indian Railways?
The Indian Railways primarily operates electric and diesel locomotives. What is the colour scheme of Indian locomotives under the Indian Railways?
The colour schemes depend on two factors, The type of locomotive and The home shed of locomotive.
only ALco Locomotives have different colour schemes that depend on home shed for e.g.
Shakti
Pushpak
Baaz
Prateek
And only WAG 5 in Electric locomotives have different colour schemes.
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WAP 1: Orange-ish with thick yellow band(the ICF rajdhani livery)
The common colour scheme for each loco is
WAP 4: Bright red with yellow band
WAP 5: White with dual red bands
WAP 7: White with single red band
WAG 5: Chocolate brown with yellow band
WAG 7: Has two colour schemes
Blue with yellow band for Locos produced in CLW
Red white blue for locos produced by BHEL
WAG 9: Bright green with yellow band
WAG 9 H: Bright green with white band(historical)
WAG 12: Blue with black
WAM 4: ICF rajdhani livery
WDG 4: White cab, blue loco with thick white/ silver band
WDP 4: Cream cab, blue loco with yellow white band
Locomotives were classified by track gauge, motive power, function and power (or model number) in a four- or five-letter code. The first letter denotes the track gauge. The second letter denotes motive power (diesel or electric), and the third letter denotes use (goods, passenger, mixed or shunting). The fourth letter denotes a locomotive’s chronological model number.
In 2002, a new classification system was adopted. For newer diesel locomotives, the fourth letter denotes their horsepower range. Not all diesel locomotives were reclassified, and the fourth letter continues to denotes their model number.
A locomotive may have a fifth letter, generally denoting a technical variant, subclass or subtype: a variation in the basic model or series, or a different motor or manufacturer. Under the new system, the fifth letter further refines horsepower in 100-hp increments: A for 100 hp, B for 200 hp, C for 300 hp and so on. A WDP-3A is a 3,100 hp (2,300 kW) locomotive, and a WDM-3F is 3,600 hp (2,700 kW).
The system does not apply to steam locomotives, which are no longer used on main lines. They retain their original class names, such as M- or WP-class.
© Swagata Sarkar.
