Wednesday, December 19, 2012

gold medal winning Polish steam locomotive


The PKP's Pm 36 class, named after the year of design, was a class of two "Pacific" 4-6-2 type. The two prototypes were built in 1937, of which Pm36-1 had aerodynamic streamlining designed by aerospace scientists from the Warsaw University of Technology, while the other had a standard look. The idea was to test both in parallel to compare factors such as top speed, acceleration, coal and water consumption.

Pm36-1 won a gold medal at the 1937 International Exposition of Art and Technology in Paris.

Following the German occupation of Poland in 1939, the two locomotives were renumbered into the Deutsche Reichsbahn fleet as 18-601 and 18-602 (class 186). The first had its streamlining removed, but was later damaged and subsequently scrapped. 18-602 survived the war, and was returned to Poland where it regained its PKP class and number. It continued to work for PKP until 1965, when it was given to the Warsaw Railway Museum.

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