page_title: SNCF 2D2 5500
section_title: Design and operation
hierarchical_section_title: SNCF 2D2 5500 / Design and operation
caption_attribution_description: English: PO-Midi E 543, next SNCF 2D2 5543
context_page_description: The 2D2 5500 were electric locomotives operated by the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans, then SNCF in France, in operation from 1933 to 1980.
context_section_description: This class originated on the PO with the two E 501–2 class locomotives of 1925. These had four traction motors, one per axle, driving through Buchli drives and following Swiss practice. They were considered to be more reliable in service than other PO electric locos.
  The locomotives operated from a 1,500 V DC catenary with two pantographs, powering four 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) motors. Each locomotive had over 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) of wire for the series-wound electric motors. The driver would start the engines in series, with only ​¹⁄₄ voltage applied at 350 A. The resistance applied to the engines was progressively removed and the locomotive's speed increased, then switching to series-parallel operation and finally parallel only at 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph). Rheostatic braking was also possible, with the rotors connected in series and shunt resistances across each field winding. Engineers watched the line ahead through a circular frosted lens in the windshield.
  Thirty five units were ordered by the PO to run on its newly electrified Paris-Orleans-Toulouse/Bordeaux lines, numbers 503 to 537, delivered between 1933 and 1935. The next 15 locomotives were delivered until 1943 to the PO.
  The units travelled 220,000 km (140,000 mi) between overhauls. They were known to be very low vibration locomotives.
caption: PO-Midi E 543, with the 'enceinte' nose
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