RENFE 151 5001 Steam Locomotive III

RENFE 151 5001 Steam Locomotive III

1:87 scale model produced by Electrotren. This model is ready-to-run straight out of the box and would make a excellent addition to any model railway collection.

Features:

• Analogue DC Model
• Best suited to Epoch III Model Railways
• This model mainly operates in Switzerland
• Decorated in RENFE company markings
• Best suited to 438mm radius curves
• Flywheel Fitted
• Close Coupler
• Sprung Buffers

Details

The RENFE Class 151, originally ordered as the Norte 5000 Series for the Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España, was Spain’s most powerful steam locomotive class built for heavy freight service. Designed by La Maquinista Terrestre y Marítima (MTM) in Barcelona, these massive locomotives featured a 1-5-1 wheel arrangement (also known as 2-10-2 “Santa Fe”) to provide enormous tractive effort on steep gradients and heavy coal trains in northern Spain.

Delivered from 1942 under the newly formed RENFE, the 22 locomotives numbered 3101–3122 became the backbone of heavy mineral and freight services, capable of hauling trains weighing 800 tonnes up challenging mountain routes. Their three-cylinder configuration gave them exceptional power — around 3,900 hp — and made them among the most formidable steam engines in Western Europe.

In service through the 1950s and 1960s, many were converted from coal to oil firing for easier operation. As Spain’s electrification and dieselisation progressed, the Class 151s were gradually withdrawn between 1968 and 1970. Only one locomotive, 151F-3101, survives today on static display at the Railway Museum of Catalonia in Vilanova i la Geltrú.