Diesel-electric locomotive T42 205

In the 1950s, SJ began to take a serious interest in larger diesel locomotives. When NOHAB (Nydqvist och Holm AB in Trollhättan) together with EMD (Electro-Motive Division in the USA) allowed a demonstrator locomotive to be shown in Sweden and Europe in 1954, it caught SJ’s interest, and the locomotive was named G12 7707.

In 1956, SJ bought the locomotive and named it T5 105, and eventually renamed it T42 205. The locomotive spent its entire career pulling freight trains between Boden and Haparanda. The locomotive was retired in 1983 and sold to the Norwegian GM Group, from which the Swedish Railway Museum bought it back in 2007.

The engine is a two-stroke V12 from GM (General Motors), mod 567C. The locomotive is the prototype for all the different types of GM locomotives built by NOHAB for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and Hungary, many of which are still in service.

Explanation

T42 is a designation (class) of the locomotive type and means:

• T = Diesel locomotive with more than 300 horsepower for regular traffic
• 42 = Of type 42 within the T family
• 205 is the locomotive's individual number