Polish State Railways Pt47

After the Second World War, the PKP had the Pt47 developed as a further development of the pre-war Pt31. The P stood for express train, the t for the wheel arrangement 2-8-2 and the number for the year of development. In the basic dimensions they corresponded to their predecessor. 120 locomotives were built by Fablok and 60 by Cegielski.

The main changes to the boiler were in the firebox. This was now made of steel and had three brick arches to increase the heating surface. In addition, the sand box and the steam dome were under a common casing, what additionally dried the sand. The leading axle was still in a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie together with the first driving axle, while the trailing axle was a simple Adams axle.

The tenders were initially taken from the German classes 41 and 44. Later locomotives received new Polish tenders with a significantly increased coal capacity of 17 tonnes. The water tank initially held 33 cubic meters and was later reduced to 27 cubic meters by installing a mechanical stoker.

The Pt47 could reach 110 km/h, but could not quite keep up with Pacifics when it came to smooth running. But a larger starting tractive effort was available and the top speed could be reached with trains of up to 600 tonnes. Thanks to their power, they were able to stay in service well into the 1980s. From a total of 15 preserved class members, only one is operational today.