Background

In 1928–29, the then British GIPR decided to progressively electrify the Bombay-Igatpuri and Bombay-Pune sections of Central Railway with direct current (D.C.) electric traction. Thus 57 D.C electric locomotives (41 WCG-1 and 16 WCP-1) were brought to be used in these sections. These locomotives performed well but due to aging they were due for replacement by 1963–64. So in September 1963, the Railway Board decided to replace these 57 old locomotives during the Fourth Five Year Plan period. A formal order for the manufacture of ten 1,500 V D.C. freight type locomotives was placed on CLW by the Railway Board in October 1964.

Production and trials

The design for the locomotive was finalized by RDSO in 1967. As per the specifications, it was expected that the locomotive with a single banker would be capable of hauling a trailing load of 3,660, tonnes goods wagons at balancing speed of 80 km/h in ascending and descending directions on both ghat sections. This would give an intermediate increase of about 50 per cent in the line capacity for goods trains without having to increase the number of trains to be run. The delay in production of locomotives was due to delay in supply of equipment from BHEL, Bhopal. The bodywork bears a strong family resemblance to other CLW designs such as the WCAM-1 and WAM-4.

Three prototypes of the locomotives were manufactured in January, March and June 1971 respectively and trial tests on these were conducted by Central Railway. Although the performance of the prototypes was not satisfactory, series production of locomotives was undertaken and by September 1972. The Railway Board stated (January 1977) that it was not considered desirable to wait for ideal conditions to prevail for the series manufacture to commence as the need for replacing old locomotives was pressing.

Service history

The new locomotives were brought into use in April 1972 in Kalyan-Igatpuri and Kalyan-Lonavala Sections and by the end of March 1976, 54 locomotives were in service. Since these locomotives could not haul the loads for which they were originally designed, lower hauling loads (permissible load) based on actual experience of the working of these locomotives were fixed by the RDSO to be the capability of the 'present design'. It was noticed that the incidence of failures in WCG-2 locomotives was very large during the period 1973 to 1976. So a new range of upgrades were brought and reliability increased.

Initially they were used on freight duties and departmental duties. After issues were sorted they replaced the WCG-1 fleet from banking duties. From 1992 to 1996 the aging WCM series fleet began to fail creating a huge shortage of locomotives. The punctuality of trains in and out of CSTM went haywire and many trains were cancelled. During this period the WCG-2 was used on many Express runs including the Deccan Queen.

By 2000, none of the original 57 locomotives had been withdrawn from service. However, with declining coverage area due to AC electrification, three locomotives were withdrawn as life-expired in November 2006. But withdrawals were slow, mainly due to increased flow of freight and passenger traffic which required extra locomotives; only 21 locomotives had been withdrawn by the end of 2009. On 2 May 2010, the DC Bhor Ghat section was converted to AC marking the end of era of the WCG2 locomotives performing the banking duties. The last WCG-2s doing shunting duty at CSTM were withdrawn from service in August 2012.

Hauling capacity

WCG-2 Preserved in CSTM

WCG-2 has the following capacity for 4 wheeler wagons (in tonnes):^[8]

WCG-2 has the following capacity for BOX wagons (in tonnes):

WCG-2 has the following capacity for BOXN wagons (in tonnes):