OKl100

LVD Ct 126 (Henschel 23086/1936, location and date unknown (probably a factory photo). Source: Eisenbahnen im Baltikum (see References).

Side drawing of class Rt by M. Ćwikła (SK vol. 3/2002).

Within the framework of designation system introduced by PKP after WWII, number 100 in class designation was reserved for various types of locomotives of origin other that German (regarding operator, not manufacturer), which shared only common axle arrangement. Most of them came from various local and private railways and industry. Some of these ‘classes’ were quite numerous, but class OKl100 numbered just one example.

Between 1934 and 1940 Latvian state railways (Latvijas Valsts Dzelzceļš – LVD) took delivery of 37 universal locomotives running on superheated steam, with the 1-3-1 axle arrangement. They were fitted with lead and rear Bissel trucks and had exchangeable wheelsets with 1720 mm or 1400 mm drivers (designated Ct and Rt, respectively), so that they could be used either with light passenger trains, especially in suburban traffic, or for switching. Three were built by Fablok (s/n 590 through 592/1936), the rest came from Henschel. Initially seventeen were delivered in the Ct version (including all from Fablok) and twenty in the Rt version. All but four (again, including three from Fablok) were built for the 1524 mm track, but could be easily re-gauged.

After annexation of the Baltic countries by the USSR in 1940 locomotives and rolling stock of their railways was taken over by NKPS, but remained in use with local traffic. According to LOZD, NKPS took over fourteen Cts and fifteen Rts, the fate of the remaining eight is not accounted for. Immediately after Fall Barbarossa Soviet authorities had more urgent problems to solve than evacuation of mostly untypical engines, so most fell into German hands. Their move westwards started with the approach of Red Army in 1944; some were later returned and this type remained in use with passenger trains, assigned to the Riga depot, until 1954. Rt 126 (Henschel 23086/1936) finally ended up at the Rybnik depot in Silesia and was taken over there by PKP in March 1945. This locomotive had originally been delivered in the passenger version as Ct 126, but was fitted with 1400 mm drivers when impressed into PKP. Despite the fact that engines with such drivers were typically qualified as freighters, it was numbered OKl100-1. Between 1945 and 1954 it was assigned to as many as seven depots in Upper Silesia and Opole region and used in local passenger traffic along with indigenous OKl27s. In 1954 it was transferred to a food industry plant and remained in use there until 1958. After a few years more in the role of a stationary boiler, it was finally scrapped in 1964.

Main technical data

No.	Parameter	Unit	Value
1.	Years of manufacture	-	1936 – 1940
2.	Total built / used in Poland	-	37 / 1
3.	Tender class	-	-
4.	Axle arrangement	-	1-3-1
5.	Design maximum speed	km/h	90 / 70^1)
6.	Cylinder bore	mm	2 ´ 480
7.	Piston stroke	mm	630
8.	Engine rating	kW/hp
9.	Tractive effort	kG
10.	Boiler pressure	MPa	1.54
11.	Grate dimensions	m X m	2.2 m^2
12.	Firebox heating surface	m^2
13.	Distance between tube plates	mm
14.	Number of flue tubes	-
15.	Heating surface of flue tubes	m^2
16.	Number of smoke tubes	-
17.	Heating surface of smoke tubes	m^2
18.	Evaporating surface, total	m^2	112.3
19.	Superheater heating surface	m^2	41.0
20.	Diameter of drivers	mm	1 720 /1 400^1)
21.	Diameter of idlers front/rear	mm	900 / 900
22.	Total weight, empty	kg
23.	Total weight, working order	kg	81 200
24.	Weight on drivers, working order	kg
25.	Weight with tender, empty	kg	-
26.	Weight with tender, working order	kg	-
27.	Maximum axle load	T	16.6
28.	Axle base (with tender)	mm	9 500
29.	Overall length (with tender)	mm	12 420
30.	Brake type	-	Knorr

1) Passenger / freight version

References and acknowledgments

- article on Lithuanian and Latvian locomotives in the PKP service by Tomasz Roszak (SK vol. 3/2002);

- www.pl.wikipedia.org;

- Eisenbahnen im Baltikum by H.G. Hesselink and N. Tempel (LOK Report, 1996);

- LOZD vol. 1.