Finland: VR Dv12 diesel locomotive leaves Varkaus on a Pieksamaki to Joensuu passenger service

Finland: VR Dv12 diesel locomotive 2636 leaves Varkaus on train H785, the 1833 Pieksamaki to Joensuu passenger service. Clip recorded on 5th ‎July ‎2013.
Varkaus (before year 1929 Warkaus) is a Middle-Savonian industrial town and municipality of Finland.
It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Northern Savonia region.
The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Oddly enough, 'Varkaus' translates to 'theft', even though it is not the reason for giving that name to the city. In old Finnish the same word also meant strait, and this city is located in the lake district on straits between two parts of Lake Saimaa. An extension of the Saimaa Canal passes through the town.
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The Dv12 (Sv12 and Sr12 until 1977) is the standard Finnish medium-weight diesel-hydraulic road locomotive operated by VR. As all the main lines of Finnish railway network have been electrificied, the locomotive is designated mostly to unelectrified, less frequently used side lines. Occasionally it may still pull cargo trains on main lines. It has also been put in service as a shunter, replacing older classes Dv15 and Dv16 as they were retired. A total of 192 locomotives were built by Lokomo and Valmet between the years 1963 and 1984. As of 2011, the oldest Dv12 units are 48 years old.
The Dv12 is a general purpose locomotive which was designed for both passenger and cargo train use. Its 1000 kW power is somewhat low by current standards, but it is capable of multiple-unit operation with only one train crew and doublets and triplets are common. It has a low axle load of 15.6 tonnes, which makes it very well suited for branch lines that allow only smaller axle loads. All the axles are interconnected with shafts and universal joints to the Voith L 216 rs hydraulic transmission. Because all axles must rotate at the same speed, the individual slipping of axles is impossible. This translates into a very good tractive effort for a 62 tonne locomotive. The main engine is a Finnish-built Tampella SACM MGO V16 BSHR Diesel with two Brown Boveri-VTR 200 M turbochargers.
The Dv12 has two speed ranges, 85 km/h (53 mph) for cargo use and 125 km/h (78 mph) for passenger use. This mechanical gear can only be switched with the locomotive at standstill.
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VR or VR Group (Finnish: VR-Yhtymä Oy, Swedish: VR-Group Ab) is a state-owned railway company in Finland. Formerly known as Suomen Valtion Rautatiet (Finnish State Railways) until 1922 and Valtionrautatiet / Statsjärnvägarna (State Railways) until 1995. Its most important function is the operation of freight and passenger rail services.
Since 2010, the maintenance and the construction of the railway network are the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Agency (Finnish: Liikennevirasto). The operation and network were originally carried out by the parent company Valtionrautatiet until 1995, when it was split into VR Group and the rail administration entity Ratahallintokeskus.
VR operated steam locomotives until 1975; the regular use of steam traction for scheduled passenger services ended in 1970 but occasional use continued until 1975. As of 2011, the company operates two classes of electric locomotives (Sr1 and Sr2) and three classes of diesel locomotives (Dv12, Dr14 and Dr16). The use of diesel locomotive hauled passenger trains has declined due to electrification of all main lines and the (re)introduction of railbuses (Dm12) on secondary routes. In October 2010, VR announced plans to renew its locomotive fleet by ordering around 200 new locomotives, which are expected to enter service in 2015-2025.
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