Ok22
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Ok22-23 (Fablok
339/1929) at Jaworzyna Śląska depot (now Industry
and Railway Museum), photographed on
The same engine, in much better condition,
photographed on July 8, 2009.
Ok22-31 (Fablok
356/1929) at Wolsztyn depot, photographed on
Side drawing of the Ok22 from PNP.
On
Next year, on More pictures of this engine, taken at the 2008
Show, can be seen here.
Ok22-165. My data give ‘location unknown, April 1959’,
but judging from the service number this is a pre-war picture. Photo from my
collection.
Ok22-32 (pre-war Ok22-89), photographed in Nysa in
1987. Photo by PhotoGataR (from my collection).
Ok22-187 (Fablok
586/1934) on a pre-war postcard from my collection. This engine was taken
over by DRG and impressed into service as 38 4608; after the
war she remained with DB and was written off in December
1951.
The caption reads: ‘The most beautiful PKP steam
engine’: such was the outcome of a 1929 poll. This photo adorns the cover of
the Technika
Parowozowa monthly 1929 annual set. Service number is
illegible. Class designation is given as ‘OK 22’, which is not proper. |
First
passenger locomotive, designed and built for PKP after WWI, was a derivative of Prussian P8 – a very
successful machine, built in almost 4,000 examples between 1906 and 1940 and
used in many European countries. Poland acquired 192 P8s as a part of war
reparations and bought 65 brand new machines from Linke-Hofmann, Hanomag
and Schwartzkopff between 1921 and 1923; all these locomotives were
classed Ok1. More examples were taken over after WWII and Ok1 remained in
service until 1980 as the most numerous class of passenger locomotives with PKP. Immediately
after WWI, lack of engines suitable for passenger traffic was particularly
acute, as most acquired German, Austrian and Russian locomotives were
freighters, usually obsolete and in poor condition. New passenger engine was
thus badly needed and it was decided to pattern its design upon that of the
P8. New engine, later to be classed Ok22, was ordered in 1922 and first five
examples were built in 1923 by Hanomag (10144/1923 through
10148/1923), as Polish locomotive industry still had to be created –
virtually from scrap. After extensive tests and some minor modifications,
production was undertaken by the First Locomotive Factory in Poland (Fablok)
of Chrzanów in 1928, first example (Ok22-6, s/n 275/1928) being delivered in
December. Until 1934, 185 machines were built there. Main
differences between P8 and Ok22 concerned the boiler which, however, remained
a fairly conservative design. In order to facilitate low-grade coal
combustion, boiler was raised by 400 mm to accommodate larger firebox (grate
was shorter by 260 mm, but wider by 690 mm, its area being increased from
2.65 to 4.01 sq.m). Number of flues was increased from 119 to 175 and of
smoke tubes – from 26 to 28. Evaporating surface was larger by over 28%, but
superheater heating surface – only by less than 8%; with unchanged boiler
pressure of only 12 bar and the same dimension of cylinders, overall
efficiency was slightly below that of P8. Locomotive frame, steam engine and
motion gear remained virtually unchanged. Machines built by Fablok had
modified cabs (similar to that of Ty23) and two boiler domes. They were
coupled with 22D23 four-axle tenders (again from Ty23) which, compared to
22D2s of Hanomag-built examples, had slightly lower empty weight, but
were longer and had coal box capacity increased from 7 to 10 tonnes. Between
two world wars, Ok22 was one of the most important classes in PKP service, used throughout the
country (five machines, Ok22-151 to Ok22-155, were leased to the French-Polish
Railway Company for passenger traffic on the Coal Trunk Line between
Upper Silesia and Gdynia). Until the introduction of Pt31, they were also
commonly used with express trains (more powerful Os24 had poor running
qualities at higher speed). In-service modifications, apart from fitting electric
lighting from 1931 onwards, were rather few. 55 engines were fitted with
Langer device (air and steam jets directed into firebox to improve
combustion). Five examples (Ok22-117 through Ok22-121) had Lentz valve gears
which, although generally successful, proved somehow troublesome in
maintenance and have not found widespread use. Several machines had Dabeg or
Worthington feedwater pumps instead of standard Metcalfe-Friedmann
exhaust-steam injectors. Ok22-23 was in 1935 experimentally fitted with
Nicolai-type piston valves. According to PNPP,
55 engines were fitted with Langner or Pyran devices for smoke-less
combustion, which proved completely unsuccessful and were soon removed. In
1939, Ok22s shared the fate of other Polish locomotives. 112 examples captured
by Germans were impressed into the DRG service and classed 3845-46
in 1941. 72 engines fell into the hands of the Soviets. The prototype Ok22-1
went with an evacuation train to Lithuania and was absorbed by state LG railways; numbered 41 (class K9),
it became a Soviet booty in 1940. Some sources state that this was in fact
Ok22-132 (Fablok 472/1932), destroyed in Wilno by a direct bomb hit in
June 1941. Most Soviet engines were converted to 1524 mm track and served in
Western Ukraine and Byelorussia, with original Polish service numbers. First
converted example (in November 1939) was Ok22-100, and 59 more followed until
1941; after German attack most of them were sent eastwards. Anyway, such fast
conversion (compared to other ex-PKP classes) seems indicative of the
Ok22 being highly valued by their new owners. After Fall Barbarossa,
21 Soviet engines fell into German hands; most were impressed into DRG. The fate of five engines is not known. According to some
sources, a few examples were evacuated to Romania in 1939, but in fact the
only Ok22 in the CFR service was the Ok22-112 (Fablok
433/1930), captured by the Soviets in 1939, then taken over by Wehrmacht,
transferred to Romania and re-numbered 230.903, to fall into the hands of
Soviets again in 1944 – a colorful life indeed! Some locomotives serving with
Ostbahn were later, as the fortunes of war changed, captured by the
Soviets, but only one (ex Ok22-42), which had served with NKPS before 1941, was retained, as it
was considered Soviet property. In 1945, Polish administration initially took over 51 Ok22s, which were restored in service and given new numbers. Four more were returned by ČSD and two by ÖBB in 1947 and 1948; this given a total of 57 engines. As with many other pre-war classes, not a single engine returned from the Soviet Union. In 1955, 31 Ok22s were re-vindicated from Eastern Germany; despite being in generally poor condition, all were given new service numbers Ok22-58 through Ok22-88, although many saw no service and were immediately scrapped. Over thirty examples were written off and scrapped in Western Germany in the 1950s. Soviet Ok22s remained in use until mid-1960s, later some went to industry. After introduction of Ol49, Ok22s were gradually shifted to local traffic, but occasionally hauled even long-distance trains until late 1960s. Post-war modifications were few and typical – steel fireboxes, standardized injectors and boiler fittings and lighting (apart from 25 engines, all pre-war Ok22s were fitted with gas lighting). Few examples were withdrawn before 1975, but afterwards they fell in number quite rapidly. Last survived in service in Lower Silesia until November 1979. Mention
has also to be made of two Ok22s reboilered in 1952 with boilers taken from
Tr203s (ex-USATC S160 engines,
supplied after WWII). According to some sources, these were Ok22-35 and
Ok22-45, but other sources suggest that these were possibly wrecked
undercarriages with no service numbers assigned, of which some were still at
hand. Classed Ok203 and later re-classed Ok55, they were joined by the third
example – which did not use an Ok22 undercarriage – in 1959. This
reconstruction proved entirely successful, as Tr203 boilers were much more
modern and efficient than those of the original Ok22; plans for further
conversions were, however, abandoned, as it had been decided not to proceed
with any design work concerning steam locomotives. These hybrids were in
October 1970 impressed into the Ok22 class and re-numbered Ok22-89 through
Ok22-91, to be written off between 1976 and 1978 and scrapped. Class Ok55 is
described under a separate entry. Two
locomotives of this type have survived until today. Ok22-23 (Fablok
339/1929, pre-war Ok22-44, then DRG
38 4530), withdrawn from service in 1979, can be seen at the Industry and
Railway Museum in Jaworzyna Śląska. Ok22-31 (Fablok 356/1929,
pre-war Ok22-51, then DRG 38 4536),
based in Wolsztyn, was restored in service in 1987. Withdrawn in September
1997 and kept in Wolsztyn on static display, it was later overhauled (from
December 2002 to May 2004), restored in service once again and from time to
time hauls special trains. Although
only marginally superior to its archetype P8, Ok22 was a successful machine,
tough and reliable, very important for passenger traffic both before and
after WWII. Intended to supplement rather than to replace Ok1, it served
along with the older class; in fact, the last Ok1 was withdrawn a few months
after the last Ok22. Main technical data
1) Some
sources erroneously give 540 mm 2) Some
sources give 8 560 kG 3)
Ok22-1 to
Ok22-5 4) With
22D2 tender References and acknowledgments
-
www.parowozy.best.net
(website by Michał ‘Doctor’ Pawełczyk); -
PNPP, AP, LP; www.parowozy.com.pl (website by Wojtek
Lis). |
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