2019-05-30 Thu

Switzerland issued an 11.29 grams 0.9 Pure Gold 50 Franc coin to commemorate 100 Years of the iconic Crocodile Locomotive. Designed by a graphic designer named Raphael Schenker from Zurich, the reverse side depicts the train, its official name Ce 6/8 II and year dates marking the anniversary. The obverse side depicts the country name, denomination, year of issue and a plus sign of Swiss flag. The coin’s diameter is 25 mm.

Ce 6/8 II or Crocodile Locomotives are one of the sturdiest and most powerful locomotives in the world. In 1918, Swiss Federal Railways ordered 10 Heavy mountain freight locomotive machines from Swiss locomotive and machine factory SLM. These machines were to be used at Gotthard to pull a train of 860 tons trailer weight, two times the distance from Goldau to Chiasso within 28 hours. Interestingly, the Crocodile Locomotive had a mobile storage between the engine mounts and the locomotive body as well. 33 more engines were built and used from 1919 to 1921. Ce 6/8 II engines were replaced by more powerful locomotives on the Gotthard in the mid-1950s. Certain Crocodile locomotives are operational even today.

Image Courtesy: The Federal Mint Swissmint