NS 1201 Electric locomotive in turquoise by PixelPower

About "NS 1201 Electric locomotive in turquoise"

by PixelPower

About the artwork

The NS locomotive series 1200 is an electric locomotive used by the Dutch Railways between 1952 and 1998, used by ACTS Nederland BV from 1999 to 2009 and by EETC from 2010 to 2015.
First life at NS
These locomotives were of an American design by Baldwin/Westinghouse, but, like the 1000 series, largely built in the Netherlands. As with the other locomotives delivered in the years after World War II, an existing design was used here. The locomotives were built by Werkspoor in Utrecht, except for the bogies, which were manufactured in the United States. Financing took place under the Marshall Plan. The electrical installation was supplied by Heemaf.
The 25 class 1200 locomotives were ordered in 1949 and delivered in 1951-1953. Like the other locomotives of this period, they were painted turquoise on delivery, but the 1215-1225 were reddish-brown, the colour in which the new diesel locomotives of the 1950s also ran. From 1954 they were repainted in Berlin blue and from the 1970s they were painted in the new NS house-style colours of grey-yellow.
In the early 1980s, the 1200's underwent an overhaul, allowing them to last at least another decade.
During their service with the NS, none of these locomotives was written off after accidents, so all 25 reached an age of over forty years. They served a variety of train types, but mainly the heavier passenger trains.
The 1200's were known as reliable and solid locomotives. This good reputation was mainly achieved thanks to the simple design of the electrical system, without the usual quick-switch. On the 1200, a simple but heavy fuse was used to protect the entire high-voltage installation against too high currents.
In 1998, the last 1200s went out of service at NS.