CFR series 231
| CFR series 231 | |
|---|---|
 Locomotive 231.065 in Brașov in 2008
|
|
| Numbering: | 2201-2240, 231.041-231.090 |
| Number: | 90 |
| Manufacturer: | Maffei , Henschel |
| Year of construction (s): | 1913-1923 |
| Retirement: | until 1975 |
| Axis formula : | 2'C1 'h4 |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
| Length over buffers: | 20,827 / 21,040 mm |
| Service mass: | 89 t |
| Friction mass: | 48 t |
| Top speed: | 126 km / h |
| Driving wheel diameter: | 1855 mm |
| Impeller diameter front: | 935 mm |
| Rear wheel diameter: | 1205 mm |
| Number of cylinders: | 4th |
| Cylinder diameter: | 420 mm |
| Piston stroke: | 650 mm |
| Boiler overpressure: | 13 bar |
| Grate area: | 4.0 m² |
| Superheater area : | 60.5 m² |
| Evaporation heating surface: | 254.5 m² |
The steam locomotives of the CFR class 231 were purchased from 1913 to 1923 by the Romanian state railway Căile Ferate Române (CFR) from the German manufacturers Maffei and Henschel . They were the fastest steam locomotives used by the CFR. The machines with the 2'C1 '( "Pacific" ) wheel arrangement were the backbone of express train traffic on the Romanian rail network for decades .
history
The increasing train weights across Europe and the expansion of express train traffic in the first years of the 20th century also led to an additional need for powerful express train locomotives in Romania. The last time CFR received from Breda in 1901 was ten compound machines with a 2'C axis arrangement (CFR numbers 8001 to 8010 ) with De-Glehn drive , which were no longer sufficient for the increasing demands. Based on the model of the Bavarian S 3/6 , at that time one of the most powerful European express train locomotives, the CFR ordered 20 new express train locomotives from Maffei in Munich in 1912 in the form of “Pacific” locomotives with a 2'C1 'wheel arrangement. The Breda locomotives had apparently not been so successful with the compound drive, which was new for Romania, because the CFR commissioned a four-wheel drive from Maffei as a major difference to the S 3/6 equipped with compound drive. The locomotives were delivered in 1913 and took over the most important express train services in pre-war Romania. The CFR had to pay 134,000 lei per piece .
All locomotives were initially stationed in Bucharest and hauled express trains from there to Constanța , Piteşti , Galați and Mărăşeşti , including the Orient Express from Paris via Bucharest to Constanța. A second batch of twenty machines followed from 1914 to 1915.
The end of the First World War brought Romania a significant expansion of territory, in particular through the acquisition of Transylvania and the Banat in the Treaty of Trianon of Hungary . The war had also decimated the number of locomotives and the CFR therefore ordered another 50 Pacifics from Maffei and Henschel in 1922, which only differed in details from the pre-war deliveries. Maffei delivered 20 and Henschel 30, including the 231.054 locomotive with the Henschel delivery number 19,000. As an anniversary locomotive, it was on display in a different green color scheme in the summer of 1925 at the German Transport Exhibition in Munich. With the takeover of former Hungarian and Austrian routes and the associated significant expansion of their vehicle fleet, CFR introduced a new series scheme based on the French model with numbers for the number of running and coupled axles . The Pacifics delivered from 1922 were therefore given the series designation 231 and were classified in the vehicle fleet with the numbers 231.041 to 231.090. For unknown reasons, however, the CFR did not renumber its own older locomotives, as well as those taken over from Austria-Hungary, they kept their old numbers. The now 90 Pacifics took over almost all the important Romanian express train services, including the Simplon Orient Express and the luxuriously equipped Pullman Express trains of the CIWL from Bucharest to Galați, Brașov and Constanța, which were introduced in 1929 . Only from 1937 did they face competition from the CFR series 142 , licensed by BBÖ 214 . With a permissible speed of 126 km / h, however, the 231 remained the fastest steam locomotive series of the CFR.
After the Second World War , the 231, of which only the 231,090 had to be retired as a war loss, were also stationed in Iași and Buzău . In addition to the express trains in the plains of Wallachia and Moldova , they also took over passenger train services on routes in the Carpathian Mountains . The locomotives were very much appreciated by their staff, many invested considerable effort in the care and appearance of their machines, which were often decorated with white wheel tires , polished steel bands around the boiler and chimney and chrome-decorated cylinder lids. From 1959, the CFR procured large series of diesel locomotives of the CFR series 060 DA under Swiss license. The diesel locomotives gradually replaced the 231 on their most important routes, while electrification led to the displacement of steam locomotives on other routes . In 1970 the majority of the Pacifics were still part of the CFR, but they were quickly taken out of service in the following years. The last regular express train service was the "Bulgaria Express" between Bucharest and the Bulgarian border station Ruse on the Danube , which was a task of the 231 until January 1975. On January 10, 1975, it was drawn for the last time by the 2213, so the scheduled use of the series ended. Some copies were used as steam dispensers in the following years. However, by 1983 almost all machines were ultimately scrapped.
technical features
The 231 was largely based on the model of the S 3/6, but it differs significantly from its Bavarian counterpart, especially in terms of its drive system. All four cylinders of the four-wheel drive are in a row and drive the first coupling axle. In order to obtain sufficiently long connecting rods despite the drive on the first axle, but still avoid an overall wheelbase that was too large, the cylinders were not - as is usually the case with locomotives with leading bogies - placed in the middle between the two running axles, but at the level of the first running axle. One inner and one outer cylinder each received a common piston valve with crossed steam channels to supply the cylinders.
The first coupled axle was designed as a bolster axle in accordance with the quadruple drive, which over the years, however, has proven to be a major weak point of the machines. Due to damage caused by air pockets in the axles, new bolster axles had to be installed in some locomotives in the 1950s; some of the older Maffei units were prematurely retired due to such damage in the 1960s as the first machines of their series (apart from accidents and war losses) .
Like the S 3/6, the 231 received a bar frame and, thanks to the trailing axle set far back, a wide grate . Other features were the Heusinger control and Schmidt - superheater . As with many Romanian locomotives, they were fired using a mixture of heavy oil and lignite , both of which are domestic fuels.
Preserved locomotives
Two Pacifics of the series have been preserved, with the 231.050 and 231.065 one each from Maffei and one from Henschel. The locomotive 231.065 is operational and is used from Bucharest in front of special trains. In Bucharest there is also the non-operational 231.050 in the Calatori plant.
literature
- Erhard Born: 2 C 1. Development and history of the Pacific locomotives. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung Stuttgart 1964.
- AE Durrant: The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe , David & Charles, revised edition, Newton Abbot 1972, ISBN 0-7153-4077-8
Web links
- TCR - the first Romanian railway club: 231.065 (type 2`C1`) 5440/1922 JA Maffei
- Railway in Romania: Căile Ferate Române Category IIIa (231)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Sölch: Orient Express. The heyday and decline and rebirth of a luxury train . 4th edition. Alba, Düsseldorf 1998, ISBN 3-87094-173-1 , p. 197
- ^ AE Durrant: The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe , David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1972, p. 47