PKP class Ty2


PKP classes Ty2 and Ty42 are freight 2-10-0 steam locomotives used by Polskie Koleje Państwowe from 1942 onwards. They are Deutsche Reichsbahn class 52 Kriegslokomotiven, either acquired new, or secondhand, having been built during World War II in factories in many European countries in 1942-1945.

History

The purpose of this simplified, cheaper to manufacture and reliable locomotive was to operate rail routes in the territories acquired by the Third Reich in the east. Therefore, it locomotives in this series have excellent thermal insulation and an axle load of no more than, allowing them to navigate the lines with poor or temporarily repaired tracks.
After the defeat of the Third Reich, 1207 locomotives of this series started work on the PKP. In 1962, Poland due to the lack of locomotives, had been forced to buy 220 machines from the Soviet Union. Two hundred of them were incorporated into the class, and 20 purchased from PMP PW Katowice. PKP locomotives renumbered the locomotives Ty2-1208 to Ty-1407, while the PW PMP locomotives kept the last four digits of their German number.
From 1945 until the end of steam traction operation, the Ty2 was the largest series of locomotives in Poland. 54 locomotives of this series are still in Poland today, including examples active in the Open Air Museum of rolling stock and railway equipment in Chabowka: the Ty2-911 and the Ty2-953. Ty2-953 took part, among others in celebration of the 150th anniversary of railways in the Rybnik on 1 October 2006 and the 150th anniversary of the station in Tarnowskie Góry on 17 June 2007.

Traction capabilities

Ty2 class locomotives during start-up developed a theoretical tractive force of about. Examples with good quality coal could pull trains weighing at or at In mountainous areas, on grades of 20‰, they could pull at ; or at the same speed on 25‰ grades.