Oerlikon Enginering Works MFO SLM 236t 8800kW 16 motors 110km/h restored by CFF in operation 1939-1971 The Landi locomotive for national prestige – during the interwar years, the railway reached its pinnacle as a means of national prestige. New world records eclipsed old ones. Germany, France, England and the USA vied with one another with ever more powerful and faster record-breaking trains and locomotives. Switzerland joined in the test of strength and exceeded everyone. For the Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich in 1939, the SBB ordered a 14-axle locomotive which would be the most powerful locomotive of its day with an output of 8800 kW. With its streamlined shape and lime green livery, it was the showpiece of the Swiss engineering industry and the Swiss Railways. Changes For operational as well as aesthetic reasons, the Landi locomotive underwent a number of clearly visible changes in the course of its working life. A stamp from 1947 shows the Landi locomotive with its original, round buffers. They were replaced by square buffers during a refurbishment in 1963/64. Also absent since that time are the large chrome numbers I and II at each end which identified the individual locomotive halves. The rubber bellows between the loco halves had already been removed and a door welded shut on each of the driver’s platforms. From 1963 until 1971, the original light green loco was painted in the typical SBB dark green of the period. Electric double locomotive Ae 8/14 No 11852 Swiss Federal Railways CFF 1939 On the climb to the St.Gotthard Tunnel, the CFF usually needed two locomotives to haul heavy freight trains. From 1929 they started to order high-performance designs. The third and last double locomotive of 1939 was not able to take full advantage of its incredible power of 8800kW because the couplings of the leading vehicle were not able to withstand the stress of its full tractive effort. It was built as an object of national prestige. After 31 years of service, this locomotive had to be withdrawn after a transformer had caught fire.