Henschel, based in Kassel, has always been very active on international markets, supplying its locomotives to several companies around the world.
Following the example of Krauss-Maffei, which proposed a rather interesting diesel on the American market, Henschel also made a considerable effort to give the US companies a means with which to have fun.
Those were the years of the SD40, when the modular concept was becoming more and more popular. Therefore, trains with 4, 5 or even 6 locomotives appeared, with groups of helpers in the middle and in the rear. With a considerable expenditure of personnel.
Henschel chose an original approach: he launched a series of modular locomotives, built on the basis of his V320 (Co'Co'), derived from the ubiquitous V160 (Br 214-218).
It started from a base of 3200 hp and multiplied according to the needs, forming a single unit controlled by a single pair of drivers.
From this concept was born the Br 235 001, a deadly machine.
It was composed of 4 machine bodies and unloaded its 13,000 hp of power through 2 three-axle bogies at the ends and three 4-axle bogies supporting the central half-bodies.
The machine was offered to the main American companies who tested it well, but although they appreciated its performance, they feared its maintenance. 8 engines to keep in order were a bit excessive for the approximate maintenance of the American secondary depots.
The locomotive was therefore subsequently sold to the Nationale de Mexico, the Mexican state company that was trying to solve the traction problems on the line from Chiuhaua to Mexico City. At last it was possible to transfer all the necessary material without having to split the trains into endless "extras", convoys composed of parts of the main train.
But the Mexican problem, the one that has always prevented the development of a serious domestic industry, was lurking: the siesta.
Any activity at 2 p.m. would stop and could only resume after 5 p.m.... The NdM also modified the cabin of the 235 in order to have two comfortable hammocks, some mini-bars and an automatic central service of automatic alarm and laser eyelid control, but the results were poor. Trains, even those weighing 10,000 tons, stopped running at 2 p.m. on the dot and it was not possible to keep them running for three hours.
Moreover, our 235, with its 4-axle bogies (Do') was not very kind to the approximate iron used on the Sierras. It had become necessary to have the trains followed by special draymen who took care of resurfacing the track, practically "torn up" by the passage of the monster.
The proverbial Mexican patience solved the problem. After a few years of honorable and unrecognized service, the 235, renamed "El Major", heavily graffitied, was decommissioned and after a few months transformed into 14 trucks assembled with the most disparate pieces, with wooden sides colored in garish colors, some of which still run in the area carrying tequila and señoritas...