NOHAB railcars

In service with CP since 1948.

The NOHAB diesel railcars entered service with the Companhia dos Caminhos de Ferro between 1948 and 1949. The acquisition of these railcars was one of the most important and fundamental steps in the strategy to modernise CP’s rolling stock and passenger service in the post-Second World War period, as well as for the Portuguese railway system as a whole. They were the first imported diesel railcars to operate in Portugal.

The tender launched in 1945 for the acquisition of this self-propelled rolling stock was won by the Swedish manufacturer NOHAB, which was responsible for building 24 units of different types, of which 21 were for the broad-gauge network and three for the narrow-gauge network. The broad-gauge railcars came in two types: a longer version comprising 15 units that would become the future CP 0100 series and a shorter version comprising five vehicles that would become the future CP 0050 series. They differed primarily in terms of dimensions, power and capacity. The three narrow-gauge railcars formed what would later become the new CP 9100 series.

The tender combined the DGCF (Directorate-General of Railways) and CP (six units) into a single order. In 1946, NOHAB and CP signed contracts to supply the new trains. To finance this operation, the DGCF drew on the Special Railway Fund, whilst CP used its own funds. A year later, the parties signed a new contract to supply trailers for the standard-gauge network: the DGCF purchased six, and CP purchased five.

The broad-gauge railcars were delivered between late 1947 and September 1948. They arrived in Portugal by sea and were unloaded at the Alcântara dock in Lisbon. The Santa Apolónia workshops assembled the engines and bogies, which had travelled separately. The Barreiro General Workshops subsequently received this new self-propelled rolling stock. The trailers became available between 1949 and 1951. Their versatility allowed them to operate in different configurations. They could operate either as a self-propelled unit plus trailer or as a self-propelled unit alone, thus adapting to varying levels of demand and traffic.

The official debut of the NOHAB broad-gauge railcars took place on 20 March 1948, between Casa Branca and Vila Viçosa. Meanwhile, the three narrow-gauge units arrived by sea at the port of Leixões, in Matosinhos, between February and March 1949. They were immediately sent to Livração station – the railway junction for the Douro and Tâmega lines. Their debut on commercial service on the Tâmega Line took place on 19 May that year.

As for the liveries, the NOHAB railcars were painted in green and cream, with a silver roof and two yellow stripes at window level and along the underbody, bearing the company’s logo on the sides. In the 1960s, the company repainted them in shades of dark blue, with a silver roof and two red stripes at window level and along the underbody. In the 1970s, under the management of Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses, CP applied the new CP logo to the sides and replaced the colour scheme with orange and white paintwork, with white stripes at the top. These colours remained on these railcars until they were withdrawn from commercial service.

The railcars served passengers throughout the 1980s and 2000s. They operated across much of the Portuguese standard-gauge railway network, with their presence south of the River Tagus being particularly notable. They also operated various passenger trains on the Oeste and Beira Baixa lines, as well as on the Seixal, Montijo and Lousã branch lines. The narrow-gauge NOHAB railcars spent their entire service life on the Tâmega Line.

The gradual electrification of the Portuguese railway network and the arrival of new diesel and electric railcars contributed to their decline. The standard-gauge NOHABs of the CP 051 to 056 series completed their service in the mid-1980s, whilst those of the CP 0101 to 0115 series continued in operation until 2005. Three years earlier, in 2002, the narrow-gauge NOHABs of the CP 9101 to 9103 series completed their commercial service.

The NOHAB Ry 101 trailer and the NOHAB 0111 railcar have been preserved and are currently part of the permanent exhibition at the National Railway Museum in Entroncamento.