Ol49
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Ol49-65, photographed somewhere in
Ol49-44, preserved at Chabówka
railway stock heritage park; photo taken on
… and another example from Chabówka: Ol49-100, photographed on the same occasion.
Note different smoke lifters.
Earlier picture of the Ol49-100, taken
at the Kraków Łobzów
station on October 11, 1992. Photo by Wojciech Szpigiel (from my collection). Ol49-100 participated in the steam locomotive parade on
Ol49-100 again, this time in somehow poorer condition; Chabówka, May 6, 2017.
Another picture of the Ol49-44, taken on
Ol49-79 (Fablok 3190/1953), preserved at
the Zduńska Wola Karsznice depot; photo taken on
Ol49 side drawing, taken from PPN.
Ol49-50, beautifully preserved at the Toruń Kluczyki depot. Photo
taken on
First Ol49 purchased by PKP: Ol49-1 can be seen at Jarocin
station. Photo taken on November 11, 2003.
Another picture of this engine, taken on
February 18, 2008.
This Ol49-29 is now plinthed
at Stare Juchy railway station; photo taken on
August 1, 2004.
The same engine, photographed on July 21,
2012.
Ol49-29 once again: August 20, 2021.
Ol49-4 + 25D49-61 (Fablok
2606/1951), photographed in Ełk on August 1, 2004.
In May 2006 this machine was transferred to the Skierniewice
depot...
...and was photographed there on September
17, 2006.
Another picture of the Ol49-4, taken almost
exactly five years later. Restoration is under way.
This Ol49-71 (Fablok
3182/1953) was photographed at Kościerzyna loco
depot on August 13, 2004.
Another picture of this engine, taken on
September 23, 2013.
Derelict, but complete Ol49-69 + 25D49-59 (Fablok 3183/1954) was photographed at Gniezno
depot on September 10, 2004
Ol49-90 (Fablok
3202/1954), kept in Pyskowice, is a private
property; photo taken on October 8, 2004. Lightning on smoke lifter is not
very typical.
Another picture of the Ol49-90, taken on May
2, 2009.
This Ol49-20 + 25D49-57 (Fablok
2622/ 1952) is plinthed in Częstochowa;
photo taken on January 2, 2005
Ol49-21 + 25D49-?, Fablok 2623/1952, Railway
Museum, Warsaw; photo taken on May 25, 2005
Ol49-18 + 25D49-18 (Fablok 2620/1952) at the Łuków depot; photo taken on June 13, 2005. After
withdrawal this engine was for some time used as a stationary boiler, then plinthed and finally scrapped in 2006.
This Ol49-15 (Fablok 2617/1952) was
photographed in Krzeszowice on May 27, 2005 by a
friend of mine, Waldek Rosiński.
In 2008, Ol49-15 was transferred to Pyskowice; this picture was taken on May 2, 2009. Some pictures of the Wolsztyn-based
Ol49s can be seen here. If wrecked locomotives don’t upset you too much, you can see some Ol49s here.
Sometimes things improve. Two engines from
the wreck section were later
photographed in the Industry and
Railway Museum in Jaworzyna Śląska,
in much better condition. Ol49-93 + 25D49-93 was transferred from Ełk in September
2005 (which made a five-day trip). Photo taken on October 28,2005.
Ol49-64 + 25D49-? (Fablok 3175/ 1953), photographed on July 8, 2009.
Another machine from Ełk, Ol49-38 + 25D49-?
(fictitious designation Ol49-27) was transferred to Korsze...
... and plinthed near the station...
... which really makes an impressive sight! Three above photos were
taken by Damian Lemański (http://korsze-foto.blog.onet.pl)
on January 10, 2006. Thanks for permission!
Two more pictures of the Ol49-38 at Korsze…
…both taken on September 9, 2008.
This photo of Ol49-3 (Fablok 2605/1951), taken inside the engine shed in Ełk on June 15, 2006, is perhaps not very good, but at
least shows the machine to be in a good condition.
Ol49-8 + 25D49-?, Fablok 2610/1951. This engine is plinthed
in Przeworsk and was photographed on August 12,
2006.
Three Wolsztyn-based Ol49s, photographed
during the 2008 Steam Locomotive Show: Ol49-23...
...Ol49-7 ‘Bob Wyatt’...
...and Ol49-99.
Again Ol49-23, photographed in Wolsztyn
on July 25, 1992. Photo by Wojciech Szpigiel (from my collection).
Ol49-23 again. Photo by J. Weselik
(postcard from my collection); details are lacking. Note small stars painted
on pilots.
Scenes from the last days of Ol49s service with PKP:
an unknown Ol49 near Łódź, early 1990s…
…Ol49-21 (Fablok
2623/1952), also near Łódź, with double-deck
coaches frequently used in suburban traffic…
…again an unknown Ol49, this time photographed near
Nasielsk in 1987…
…and Ol49-79 (Fablok
3190/1953), probably withdrawn, photographed in Sierpc in early 1990s. All
four photos by PhotoGataR (from my collection).
A rare occasion to see a steam engine in my home
town: Ol49-59 visited Warsaw on June 2, 2012, to commemorate the 145th
anniversary of the Vistula River Railway. This picture was taken at the Falenica station, a few hundred metres
from my home.
Ol49-32 (Fablok
2994/1952), photographed near Wolsztyn on August
31, 1994. Photo by H.Magoń (postcard from my caollection). This engine, withdrawn in 2000, was later
cannibalized for spares at the Gniezno depot and finally scrapped in 2002.
A very nice picture of the Ol49-111, taken at the ZNTK Piła repair works in September 1990
by Edgar Geffe (from my collection).
Ol49-12 (Fablok 2614/1951), photographed at the
Stoomcentrum Maldegem on September 18, 2005. Photo by Vitaly Volkov (source: www.commons.wikipedia.org).
Ol49-83, location and date unknown. Photo from my
collection.
Two postcards from my collection, photos by Zygmunt Gajewski: Ol49-69 (Fablok
3180/1953), Poznań, July 2, 2012…
…and Ol49-111 (Fablok 4073/1954), Kopanica,
2006.
Ol49-11 + 25D49-87 (Fablok 2613/1952), photographed in Orzysz on May 2, 1997. In 2000 this engine was written off
and is currently kept in Ełk. Photo by Marek Niemiec (from my collection).
After a few years of neglect, Ol49-11 was
refurbished and now looks quite well; Ełk, August
20, 2021.
Back to Warsaw: Ol49-21, Stacja Muzeum
(previously Railway Museum), July 6, 2023. |
Immediately
after WWII, most numerous passenger locomotives in the PKP inventory
were elderly Ok1 (Prussian class P8) and Ok22 (its direct derivative, built
in Poland on the basis of German design). Their combined number exceeded 500.
These machines, despite their age, still proved very useful, especially with
light local trains. Their tractive effort was, however, comparatively low in
view of growing demands, and economy left something to be desired,
particularly due to low boiler pressure of only 12 bar – the principal
shortcoming of these otherwise very successful and reliable machines. New and
modern locomotive for such service was thus necessary. Design
of the new machine, designated Ol49, was submitted by the Fablok
factory of Chrzanów and accepted in 1950. Axle
arrangement was changed from 2-3-0 to 1-3-1, in order to accommodate wide
firebox (intended to burn low-grade coal) and at the same time keep axle load
within moderate limits. Such arrangement was not very widespread in Europe,
at least with passenger locomotives; only Austrian and Hungarian railways
ordered 1-3-1s in considerable quantities. It was more popular in the USA
(known there as Prairie), but few, if any, line locomotives of that
layout were built there after 1910: Pacifics
ran better at higher speeds and Mikados were
better balanced. Single-axle lead truck (in the case of Ol49, of
Krauss-Helmholtz type) resulted in somehow uneasy running, the more so that
the main rod was usually connected to the second pair of drivers, located
near the center of gravity, so that such machines were prone to yaw.
Moreover, Prairies were usually ‘tail-heavy’. In Ol49, weight
distribution was almost perfect (17.0 tonnes on
each driven axle and 15.95 tonnes on each idle axe
in working order), but there was some tendency to slip, as coupled axes were
shifted forward and power was transmitted to the second pair of drivers by a
short main rod. For these reasons, Pacifics
were preferred with passenger trains, but it was difficult to accommodate
large firebox with this layout without considerable increase in length. As
far as speed and weight were concerned, Ol49 was in the same category as its
predecessors, weighting in working order 82.9 tonnes
without tender (Ok1 and Ok22 – 78.2 and 78.9 tonnes,
respectively) and having the same maximum speed set at 100 km/h. Boiler
pressure was, however, increased to 16 bar and rated power was, in comparison
with the Ok1, about 40 percent higher. This gave considerably better economy,
but with smaller cylinder diameter (reduced from 575 to 500 mm – the smallest
in Polish passenger engines) tractive effort was in fact slightly lower.
Experience gained with earlier locomotives built by Fablok
right after the war, namely Ty45 and Pt47, was used to a great extent, and
certain features were patterned upon those of American Ty246s, which
certainly influenced Polish locomotive design. In fact, Ol49 was to have
belonged to the family of six post-war normalized Polish locomotives, of
which two never materialized. First
machine, Ol49-1 (s/n 2603) was delivered in 1951. Production lasted only
until 1954 and totaled just 116 examples. Three were exported to Northern
Korea in 1953 (s/n 2977, 2978 and 3001, all built in 1952) and fourth
followed in March 1954. Korean engines were fitted with Janney knuckle-type
couplers and different pilots, but were otherwise identical with Polish
machines. Their service life was rather short, as they were withdrawn in late
1970s. In PKP service, Ol49 never supplanted Ok1 and Ok22: these three
classes in fact served together. All machines were fitted with small smoke
lifters, mounted on the smoke-box top, but these differed in shape. Ol49-1 to
70 (except Ol49-58) had kinked, inward-sloping smoke lifters (with additional
kink of the upper edge in Ol49-4 to 11), while in remaining examples they
were almost vertical. However, of machines that still exist, Ol49-79, -80,
-93 and -11 have ‘older’ smoke lifters, while Ol49-60 has ‘later’ ones.
Modifications during service were few. Feedwater
heater, used in first machines, proved problematic in service (due to rapid
scale buildup) and was later deleted. Friedmann
injector was replaced by Nathan one in later examples. Twelve machines
(including prototype), based in Olsztyn, were converted to oil firing from
1965 onwards, but this was not widely adopted and coal firing was soon
reintroduced. Ol49s were used with new tenders, purpose-designed for this
class and designated 25D49; due to excessive heating of axle journal
bearings, roller bearings were introduced in service, and in many tenders
during overhauls entire undercarriage trucks were replaced with modified
ones, adopted from freight cars. These, however, deteriorated running
qualities and maximum speed while running tender first was later reduced to
45 km/h. Despite better economy and more modern design of the Ol49, railway
engineers tended to prefer older Ok1s, which were considered more reliable
and offered better running qualities. Ol49s
were sometimes used with trains heavier than previously envisaged, even with
express ones, although their running qualities were not entirely satisfactory
for that purpose. Moreover, due to small diameter of cylinders, their startup
was rather slow. Five machines (Ol49-2, Ol49-30, Ol49-62, Ol49-94 and
Ol49-101) were written off as a result of crashes and accidents. Supplies of
new diesel locomotives for passenger trains were, by comparison with
freighters, much delayed, so this class was one of the last to be withdrawn
from regular service with PKP; this took place in early 1990s, so they
outlived Ok1s and Ok22s by more than ten years. This certainly had a positive
side-effect: as their withdrawal took place in the period of growing
nostalgia for steam, comparatively many of them avoided scrapping. According
to rosters quoted in SS vol.104, in 1988 PKP inventory still included
81 Ol49s and in 1990 – 73. According to the same source, 51 machines still
existed in 1999. SK 4/99 lists 31 existing engines of this class, plus
17 more as wrecks. Some of them have been scrapped since then. Last ‘losses’
include Ol49-48, initially preserved (in fact, in a very poor condition) at
the Piotrków Trybunalski loco depot. This engine
was captiously bought dirt cheap from PKP in early 2004 and
immediately sold for scrap, which caused much stir among Polish railway fans.
Over two years later the same happened to the Ol49-18, which after withdrawal
had been used as a stationary boiler at the Łuków
depot and later was plinthed there. When repair
works at the Gniezno depot were closed down in mid-2009, the wreck of Ol49-32
was also qualified for scrapping, which was completed in October 2010. As
for now (mid-2022) the list of surviving Ol49s includes 36 examples, almost
30 percent of all serving with PKP – undoubtedly the best result in
Poland! In late 1990s and early 2000s
the largest ‘herds’ of Ol49s in Poland could be found at Wolsztyn
and Ełk depots. The latter had nine examples in
2004, but now is home to only two: Ol49-11 on static display and wreck of the
Ol49-80. Ol49-4 was transferred to Skierniewice in
May 2006, to become a part of the railway stock collection maintained by the PSMK
society. Three engines (Ol49-9, -61 and -102) went to Dzierżoniów
(a division of the Museum of Industry
and Railways in Silesia). Ol49-3 was still operational in 1999 and
currently is awaiting repair at the Toruń Kluczyki depot. Ol49-38 was plinthed
in Korsze to commemorate important contribution of
railways into the development of this town and Ol49-93 was transferred to Jaworzyna Śląska. Wolsztyn depot had seven machines; Ol49-7 ‘Bob Wyatt’,
Ol49-23, Ol49-69 (in fact Ol49-99, re-numbered in 2001) and Ol49-111 were
kept in working order and sometimes hauled local trains, while Ol49-60,
Ol49-81 and Ol49-85 were on static display. Currently only Ol49-69 is
operational and the remaining six are listed as wrecks. Ol49-23, -60 and -111
were transferred to the Leszno depot; the latter
has been dismantled. Ol49-60, transferred in May 2010, was to be refurbished
externally – there were plans to put it on static display at Rundhaus Europa in Augsburg, Germany, but
they failed to materialize. In 1993, Ol49-77 (3188/1953) was sold to Denmark and is now plinthed in Langå. Three years later, Ol49-12 (2614/1951) followed, this time to Stoomcentrum Maldegem, Belgium; this engine retained its original designation and was used with special trains. Due to boiler certificate expiration, Ol49-12 was withdrawn in 2005 and moved to static display. In May 2017 it was, quite surprisingly, purchased by a Polish private company, with an intention to restore it in service. Main technical data
1) Some sources erroneously give 115. List of vehicles can be found here. References
and acknowledgments
-
Monographic article by Paweł
Terczyński (SK vol. 9 and 10/2005); -
www.parowozy.best.net (website
by Michał ‘Doctor’ Pawełczyk); -
www.holdys.pl/tomi (website
by Tomisław Czarnecki); - AP,
PPE, PNPP. .
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