CODE NAME KP4 The largest locomotive class ever built worldwide!

Let’s not deny ourselves such a pleasure, this fine record is held by narrow gauge railways! So, let’s take a trip from the USSR to China; billowing steam and the fragrance of hot oil are expecting us there, together with a steam locomotive with an impressive pedigree.

Text: Vincent Lepais

The engine that will serve as a base for the future KP2 and C2 classes was born in 1930. The Kolomenski Zavod workshops, Russian locomotive builders since 1869, produced the 159 type. This four-axle locomotive was designed for 750mm gauge track, featured side tanks and a separate tender. It was superheated. The specifications restricted the axle load to 4 tons. One thousand units were produced until 1941. That year, a more powerful version was released, known as P24. It was fitted with a larger boiler and improved superheating. It’s larger mass required a bigger tender, as the 4 ton axle load limit meant the side tanks had to be removed. Only 9 P24 units had been completed when the German invasion took place. THE LARGE SERIES… After the war, there…

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Voie Libre International (Digital) - 1 Issue, No. 107

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