Crocodile (locomotive)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Crocodile" locomotive – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

It has been suggested that this article be split into a new article titled SBB-CFF-FFS Ce 6/8 II. (discuss) (August 2024)

Crocodile (German Krokodil) electric locomotives are so called because they have long "noses" at each end, reminiscent of the snout of a crocodile (see also Steeplecab). These contain the motors and drive axles, and are connected by an articulated center section. The center section usually contains the crew compartments, pantographs and transformer.

The first evidence of the nickname crocodile locomotive refers to the green Märklin model railway locomotives in gauge 0, item CCS 66/12920, as well as in gauge 1, item CCS 66/12921, which snake through the curves like a reptile when running through switch roads and counter curves, and are first referred to as such in the Märklin catalogue of 1933/1934. They are a reproduction of the Ce 6/8^II and Ce 6/8^III freight locomotives of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), which were put into service starting in 1919.

Sometimes the term is also used for locomotives of a similar design.