The
23s have been described as resembling anything from a garden shed to a
box on wheels. It's not hard to see why.
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The 23 Class locomotives are often thought of as a marriage between the East (Japan) and West (France). A purchase which was undoubtledly influenced by the former Malaysian Premier Mahathir's "Look East" policy when he took office in 1981, 15 of these Diesel Electrics came in 1983 shortly before the 19 class shunters. They were initially named after local folklore / legendary figures, but were later changed to bear words that describe noble values. The 23s scored quite a few firsts when they arrived. They were the first MR locomotives to have an HP rating exceeding 2000, and the first also to sport AC-DC traction. They are also MR's first to be equipped with air train brakes, though of the single-pipe variety. These were later modified to carry another air pipe and hence currently sports dual-pipe air brake system. To keep brake compatibility with older rolling stock, the 23s are also vacuum-equipped, a tradition kept in subsequent loco design and purchase that stands true to this day. Initially equipped with the MCA 'Meat Chopper' couplers, two of the 23s were later to be the first to undergo a coupler conversion programme within MR to utilise the buckeye knuckle coupler. This was later extended to the whole fleet. The 23s were initially used to haul long passenger express trains, and in the early days were almost always seen at the head of Ekspres Rakyat and Sinaran between Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Butterworth. With the arrival of the 24s four years later, the 23s were rostered to haul freight, and became less likelier to be seen hauling passenger services. For a time the 23s were not used on the East Coast Line, perhaps due to their high reliability which necessitated a constant presence on the revenue-generating West coast side of the network. Click
here to view videos of this class of locomotive
in action
Click
here to view videos of this class of locomotive
in action
Click
here to view videos of this class of locomotive
in action Last updated 15th January 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||