CC 25009 Piko

Special mention for the MT pantographs, which look better than the HJs, though not as good as the Pennati’s, and which, above all, don’t have the ugly central mounting found on almost all manufacturers. On the other hand, the springs don’t seem to be attached in the right place: they’re hooked onto the sloping frame reinforcements, whereas there seems to be a — tiny — hook right next to them.

As for the details, the windscreen wipers are very thin. I also notice that the optics have a silver “parabola”, which is very rare and, in my opinion, does a lot for the realism of the machine’s face.

In the bag of parts, I only found one set of non-shortened parts for the buffer beams (hook, brake hoses, heater jumper). This is particularly annoying for the latter, as it in no way prevents the movement of an elongating drawbar. So, there was no need to set a shortened part by default.

The overall dimensions are almost faultless. The mechanics seem very serious. Note that, while the A1A-A1A 68000 Roco is in fact a CC, the opposite is true here! The central axle of each bogie is not driven; the inner axle has a wheel with tyre.

From an electrical point of view, before running in, starting takes place between 3 and 3.5 V; the slip current at 12 V is 0.34 A, rising to 0.74 A with the motor stalled.

It’s not easy to change the coupling heads; to me, the best way is to remove the NEM boxes (a small cross-head screw). Complete “cow catchers”, with no opening for the coupling to pass through, are included in the parts bag, as are steps of two different widths.

Disassembly to fit a decoder is very easy, using two screws located between the 2nd and 3rd axles. The PCBs and wiring are very clean.

See:

• Loco-Revue forum.
• gamos81.altervista.org for the — incomplete — list of model CC 25000 references.

Main characteristics (at 25 kV):

• continuous power 3,045 kW (4,320 hp);
• maximum tractive effort at start-up 23,814 daN (24.3 t);
• weight 106 t ;
• maximum speed 100 km/h.

These machines were equipped with 6 single-phase commutator motors. At 25 kV, these motors were powered via a transformer; at 1500 V DC, they were powered via a rotating converter unit. In this case, the power was reduced to 300 kW, although this was not a major problem, as it was only necessary at Aix-les-Bains station.

CC 25009 was delivered to the Annemasse depot in October 1958; transferred to Chambéry in October 1972; written off around 1976.