Electric locomotive
BB 12079 Jouef

Some detail parts are already mounted on one end, but not on the other: electric jumper and plug, brake hose, articulated screw coupling. The latter cannot be configured at rest, with the shackle hanging on the headstock. The front running boards are photoetched openwork. There are also parts representing the insulating poles for manual mounting of the pantographs, but they are rather poorly represented.

The pantographs are the same as on the 14000/14100 of the brand; they are fixed by a screw on their support. Unfortunately, the latter is fitted with a central barrel for the screw to pass through, which doesn’t exist in reality, and which will not be very discreet if I remove the screw as I usually do.

Trix BB 12000s have been criticized for having secondary suspension springs glued to the bogie side beams. Here they are well attached to the chassis, but this time not set back far enough from it.

The drawbars have no elongation, and are fitted with a dovetail in accordance with NEM 363 (housing for coupling head in case of lack of space). The tightening of the coupling head does not seem very effective. Suitable heads are available from Fleischmann under the reference Profi 6570, and from Roco under the references 40281, 40286 or 40287 (“harpoons”). Dovetail coupling extensions are included in the parts bag.

The wheels have decorated sidewalls. The back-to-back distance is correct (14.4 mm). The flanges are 0.8 mm high.

Electrically, in direct current, the machine consumes 350 mA when slipping, and 860 mA when the motor is blocked.

See:

• Loco-Revue Forum [Jouef HJ] Des BB 12000 - 13000.
• gamos81.altervista.org for a reference list of issued BB 12000 / 13000 models.

• To remove the front coupling head support, which interferes with the mounted articulated coupling, the plastic part of the metal bogie frame must be pulled apart with a flat screwdriver blade. Caution: this part, which supports the current pickup strips, is difficult to put back in place.
• Lenz Silver 21+ decoder.
• Removal of the pantograph fixing screws. Reduction of the corresponding barrel on the supports. Installation of Pennati MT pantographs.

Among the various series of so-called “fers à repasser” built to experiment with the 25 kV / 50 Hz power supply on the North-East artery (known as Valenciennes - Thionville), the BB 12000 equipped with a graduator (a sort of variable transformer), rectifiers and DC motors did give the greatest satisfaction, even exceeding their initial specifications. For this reason, their design was subsequently carried over to all subsequent single-phase series, and even to some dual-current machines.

The BB 12079 was put into service in September 1957 at Strasbourg. Successive depots: Lens (January 1958), Aulnoye (December 1969), Mohon (September 1979). It was withdrawn in November 1988.

• Loco-Revue diagram No. 1126 of 12 April 1956. Size 640 × 450 mm. Diagram preview.
• Assignment per year, from EC 64.
• Photos on the Rail Fan Europe website.
• Wikipedia article.
• trains-europe.fr website.
• DocRail website.
• Video SNCF Archives : CC 14000 - BB 13000 - BB 12000 on Dailymotion.
• Hornby-Jouef instruction leaflet.