| Indian locomotive class WDS-3 | |
| Powertype: | Diesel-hydraulic |
| Builder: | Maschinenbau Kiel |
| Serialnumber: | 600330–600336[1] |
| Buildmodel: | 650 C |
| Builddate: | 1961 |
| Totalproduction: | 7 |
| Rebuilder: | CLW |
| Rebuilddate: | 1976–1978 |
| Numberrebuilt: | All 7 |
| Britishclass: | 0-6-0dh |
| Uicclass: | C |
| Wheeldiameter: | 10920NaN0 |
| Over Couplers: | 10.7abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Body: | 9.43abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Width: | 3.03abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Height: | 4.267abbr=onNaNabbr=on |
| Fueltype: | Diesel |
| Fleetnumbers: | 19046–19052 |
| Locale: | All over Indian Railways |
| Disposition: | All scrapped |
The class WDS-3 was a diesel-hydraulic locomotive used by Indian Railways for shunting and doing departmental works. The model name stands for broad gauge (W), diesel (D), shunting (S) 3rd generation (3). The WDS-3 is used mostly in the Northern Railway Zone (NR). All these locomotives were withdrawn and scrapped by the late 1990s.
The history of WDS-3 class starts in the early 1960s with the aim of the Indian Railways to address the growing requirement for a new shunting locomotive class. These locomotives were designed by Maschinenbau Kiel (MaK) to the specification set by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO).[2] Many aspects of this locomotive were taken from the DB Class V 60.They use Suri hydrodynamic transmission developed for these diesel locomotives and were designed as shunting-cum-shuttle service locomotives. For this purpose, the reversing gear box attached to the Suri transmission was designed to have two gear stages; in the lower gear, designated as "shunting gear", the locomotive was designated to have a maximum speed of 27 km/h and in the higher speed gear designated as "mainline gear", the maximum locomotive speed was 65 km/h.[3] The locomotive was fit for both shunting and mainline type of services up to a limited speed of 65 km/h. Subsequently, it was decided to manufacture locomotives of similar type ingeniously by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW). These locomotive are designated as WDS-4 class.
When the lot of 7 WDS3 shunters came, initially they had a lot of troubles with these locomotives, but the trouble was confined more to the power pack than to the transmission. But in course of time, going into detail about the troubles that were being experienced and the mechanics were able to get over a lot of these difficulties and in-fact the transmission was also modified to suit with the engine. Between 1976 and 1978 all seven units were rebuilt to WDS-4B specifications by CLW, and received a new engine and a simplified transmission. These units were reclassified as WDS-4Cs. By 1990s all units were withdrawn from service and were scrapped.[4]