PKP class Pm36

PKP Pm36

Pm36-2 (Beautiful Helena)
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Builder Fablok
Build date 1937
Total produced 2
Specifications
Configuration 4-6-2
UIC classification 2′C1′ h2
Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Leading wheel
diameter		 950 mm (37.40 in)
Driver diameter 2,000 mm (78.74 in)
Trailing wheel
diameter		 1,150 mm (45.28 in)
Length 24.843 m (81 ft 6 in)
Axle load 17.2 tonnes (16.9 long tons; 19.0 short tons)
Weight on drivers 51.6 tonnes (50.8 long tons; 56.9 short tons)
Locomotive weight 94.0 tonnes (92.5 long tons; 103.6 short tons)
Tender weight 72.9 tonnes (71.7 long tons; 80.4 short tons)
Tender capacity 9.0 tonnes (8.9 long tons; 9.9 short tons)
Boiler pressure 18 kg/cm2 (1.77 MPa; 256 psi)
Firegrate area 3.85 m2 (41.4 sq ft)
Heating surface:
– Firebox		 15.00 m2 (161.5 sq ft)
– Total 198.0 m2 (2,131 sq ft)
Superheater area 71.2 m2 (766 sq ft)
Cylinders Two, outside
Cylinder size 530 mm × 700 mm (20.87 in × 27.56 in)
Valve gear Heusinger (Walschaerts)
Performance figures
Maximum speed Pm36-1: 140 km/h (87 mph)
Pm36-2: 130 km/h (81 mph)
Power output 1,325 kW (1,780 hp)
Tractive effort 147.5 kN (33,160 lbf)
Locomotive brake Westinghouse
Career
Operator(s) PKP » DRB » PKP
Class PKP: Pm36
DRB: 186
Number(s) PKP: Pm36-1 to Pm36-2
DRB: 18 601 to 18 601
Nicknames Piękna Helena
Locale Poland
Retired 1965
Restored 1995
Current owner PKP

PKP class Pm36 is a class of two express passenger (P) 4-6-2 (m) steam locomotives ordered in 1936 for the Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways).

History

Design

Locomotives Pm36 and Pt31 ready for the International Exposition in Paris, 1937

The design was ready in 1936 and the following year the first two prototypes were built. One of them (Pm36-1) had aerodynamic fairing. The construction as well as the shape of it was designed by inz. Kazimierz Zembrzuski, head of the design office in the First Polish Factory of Locomitives and at the same time professor of the Warsaw University of Technology. The other (Pm36-2) had a standard look. The idea was to test both engines in parallel to compare top speed, acceleration, coal and water consumption etc. The Pm36-1 won a gold medal at the 1937 International Exposition of Art and Technology in Paris.

Service

After the German occupation of Poland during World War II, the two locomotives were renumbered into the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) fleet as 18 601 and 18 602 (class 186). The 18 601 had its streamlining removed,[1] but was later damaged and subsequently scrapped (probably in 1942). The 18 602 survived the war, and was returned to Poland where it regained its PKP class and number. It continued to work for PKP until 1965, when it was given to the Warsaw Railway Museum.

Present day

In 1995 the machine went through a major overhaul and is now working in Wolsztyn as a tourist attraction, called Beautiful Helen (pl. Piękna Helena). It is occasionally used in regular service, pulling trains to Poznań [2] or Leszno. [3] Actually Beautiful Helena waits for repair in Wolsztyn.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Durrant 1972, p. 111.
  2. ↑ "Train no. 77333 Wolsztyn - Poznań". Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  3. ↑ "Train no. 70422 Wolsztyn - Leszno". Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  4. ↑ http://tomi.holdys.pl/index2.php?desc=on&par=pm36-1

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PKP class Pm36.

External links