Electric locomotive 1142 685 of the Austrian Federal Railways.

■ Featuring different front ends in line with the prototype

■ Long UIC number

■ Matching locomotive for ÖBB push-pull trains

■ Individually switchable headlight or tail light in digital mode

Between 1969 and 1977, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) acquired a technically advanced series 1042.5 (operating numbers 1042.531 to 707) with characteristic roof structures and reversed single-arm pantographs compared to the locomotives previously delivered.

The 1042.685 was assembled at Simmering-Graz-Pauker in Graz under the factory number 72813/1976, with BBC taking the lead in the electrical part. The locomotive was based at the Vienna South Train Dispatching Center in its first years of operation. In the 1990s, starting with serial number 1042.531, among other modifications, a multiple unit control system was installed and reclassified as class 1142.

After the collision with a freight train in February 2002, the 1142 685 was restored. The front of the driver's cab 2 received the new, small headlamps with adjacent tail lamps, a larger shunting handle and handrails below the windows. On the side of the driver's cab 1, the large lower headlamps, the smaller shunting handle and the handrails running from the front windows to the driver's cab doors are still present. The blood orange livery was also preserved. This hybrid status was also maintained after a T5 repair including a new Valousek design paint job.

The locomotive was used for all kinds of trains for decades, and after the conversion to 1142 685 also for push-pull trains and heavy freight trains in multiple traction. Recently the locomotive has been taken out of service and will probably soon follow the path of the old iron.