Voith Maxima 40CC

Updated: August 2026 – When a diesel locomotive looks so long that it barely fits into one picture at the platform, and runs on six axles as well, there’s almost only one vehicle it can be in Germany: the Voith Maxima 40CC. It’s the top version of a small series that was meant to show how far hydraulic transmission could be pushed. This page places it technically and shows how to identify it reliably in the field.

What is the Voith Maxima 40CC?

The Voith Maxima 40CC is a six-axle diesel-hydraulic main-line locomotive with around 3,600 kW of engine output from a single diesel engine. It was built at the Kiel locomotive works of Voith Turbo and is considered the most powerful single-engine locomotive with hydraulic transmission.

That’s more than a marketing figure; it describes a technical concept. On almost all heavy diesel locomotives worldwide, the engine drives a generator that supplies power to traction motors – diesel-electric. Voith wanted to avoid this detour and bring the power to the axles directly via a fluid transmission. The smaller Voith Maxima 30CC follows the same principle with a lower output.

Identification in four looks

This order – broad features first, then details, and the number last – works for any unfamiliar locomotive. It’s described in detail in the guide to identifying classes, and the numbering system itself is covered in the article on the UIC number.

Classification: what a 3,600 kW diesel locomotive is built for

Criterion	Voith Maxima 40CC	Typical four-axle diesel locomotive
Wheel arrangement	C’C’, six axles	B’B’, four axles
Transmission	hydraulic	hydraulic or electric
Power class	around 3,600 kW	considerably lower
Main task	heavy main-line freight trains	shunting, trip working and light main-line duties
Numbers	small series	sometimes several hundred vehicles

The reason for six axles lies in the physics of tractive effort. What a locomotive actually delivers at the drawbar depends not only on engine output, but also on adhesive weight – in other words, how much mass rests on powered axles. More axles allow a heavier vehicle without the individual axle load exceeding the permitted limit. That’s exactly why designers turn to the six-axle layout for very high outputs, even though it makes the vehicle longer, more expensive and more awkward in tight track layouts.

The table shows why the Maxima turns up so rarely in everyday service: it was built for a need that exists in Germany only in specific places. On lines without overhead wires where heavy train weights occur, it plays to its strengths. Where four-axle machines such as the Vossloh G 2000 BB are enough, nobody will diagram a six-axle specialist.

Hydraulic or electric – why it matters to spotters

The distinction between diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric transmission isn’t just a question for engineers. It explains why some locomotives sound the way they do, and why certain designs look the way they look.

In the diesel-hydraulic design, the engine works on a fluid transmission that passes the power to the axles via cardan shafts. That saves weight and space, but requires very sophisticated transmission technology – exactly Voith’s speciality. Typical of this is a smooth run-up of the engine without the step-like load changes familiar from electric drives.

In the diesel-electric design, the engine drives a generator whose current supplies traction motors in the bogies. The engine can work within a narrow speed range and tractive effort control is simpler, but the vehicle weighs more. Locomotives such as the Bombardier DE-AC33C Blue Tiger represent this approach.

Historically, this is an old dividing line in Germany. The Deutsche Bundesbahn consistently relied on hydraulic transmissions for its large main-line diesel locomotives – the post-war V classes are the prime example. Only later, with the rebuilds and new purchases of the private railways, did diesel-electric concepts come into the picture more widely. The Maxima is therefore less an outlier than the late high point of a very German building tradition.

For identification in the field, this means you can’t see the type of transmission directly; you deduce it from the manufacturer’s designation and the class. With the Kiel manufacturers, a simple rule helps – type designations with G stand for hydraulic transmission locomotives, those with DE for diesel-electric ones. At Voith the family has its own name, but the principle remains hydraulic.

Photo tips for very long locomotives

The Maxima presents photographers with a simple problem: it’s long. If you take up the usual platform viewpoint, you’ll get either only half the locomotive or a heavily distorted perspective.

• More distance, longer focal length. A moderate telephoto compresses the perspective and makes the locomotive look more compact and massive. Which focal lengths make sense is explained in the guide to the best telephoto lens for railway photography.
• A shallow angle rather than a head-on view. About 20 to 30 degrees to the vehicle’s axis shows the front and side without unnaturally squashing the length.
• Keep the running gear clear. The six axles are the recognition feature – a viewpoint where vegetation or the platform edge hides the bogies throws that away.
• Add a detail shot. A second shot of the data panel secures the number and vehicle keeper marking for later identification.

Common mix-ups

Conclusion

The Voith Maxima 40CC is a technical statement on six axles: maximum power through a hydraulic transmission, at a time when the rest of the world had long been building diesel-electric. That’s exactly what makes it interesting for spotters – not as an everyday encounter, but as a vehicle whose sighting you plan and document.