National Rwy of Belgium 2-8-0 Locomotives in Belgium

Class 5201/Class 38 (Locobase 5045)

Data from Bruce (1952); "American Design of Consolidation Type Locomotive for the Belgian State Railways", Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume XXXIII [33], No 4 (April 1920), p. 105-106; and "American-Built Locomotives for the Belgian State Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVI [26] (15 May 1920), pp. 96-97. Works numbers were 61620-61694 in 1920,

High-pitched, plain boiler and three-axle tender give this design a European, utilitarian look. The Belgian railway system had been devastated in World War One by the offensive sweeps and trench-bound stalemate that lasted four years. Several builders were called upon to supply a basic 2-8-0 design and both Alco and Baldwin (Locobase 14593) responded. Both US builders fulfilled the same specification, but Locobase has separated the two orders (for 75 locomotives each) because of the slight differences in heating surface areas.

Measured from the fire side, the tubes and flues offered 1,276 sq ft (118.54 sq m) in heating surface area. The firebox heating surface area in these Alcos included 1.6 sq m (17.22 sq m) in arch tubes.

Armstrong-Whitworth produced 200 locomotives for the Belgian State in the same year; see Locobase 20371.

Class 5276 / Class 38 (Locobase 14593)

Data from DeGolyer, Vol 57, pp. 209. Works numbers were 53005, 53029-53033 in February 1920; 53070-53074 in March; 53083-53090, 53109-53118, 53129-53134, 53149-53156, 53166-53172, 53190-53193 in April; 53218-53224, 53242-53245, 53261-53265 in May; 53273-53275, 53297-53298 in June.

High-pitched, plain boiler and three-axle tender give this design a European, utilitarian look. The Belgian railway system had been devastated in World War One by offensive sweeps followed by trench-bound stalemate that lasted four years. Several builders were called upon to supply a basic 2-8-0 design and both Alco (Locobase 5045) and Baldwin responded. Both US builders fulfilled the same specification, but Locobase has separated the two orders (for 75 locomotives each) because of the slight differences in heating surface areas. Baldwin's specifications say that all drawings were to be made in the metric system.

The Baldwin specs say that the maximum grade on the system would be 3.3%. The specifications also show that these engines used relatively large 305 mm (12") piston valves to serve the cylinders, which were larger than the Pershings on which the Belgian design was based. Indeed, Belgium's engines also benefited from longer tubes and flues and a larger firebox.

Class Type 29 (Locobase 976)

Shown in an Alco advertisement in the 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia. Similar to many other engines built by American companies and exported to many other countries after World War II. See Locobase 950 for China's KD7.

[] says that the damage to the Belgian railway system was so severe that an urgent order went out for these 300 Consolidations. Built under the auspices of the United Nations Relief & Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), the class was doled out to the Montreal Locomotive Works (160 engines), Canadian Loco Works (next 60) and Alco-Schenectady (the last 80). The CLC engines were assembled in Antwerp.

They served well for two decades, the last leaving service on 30 December 1966.

Class Type 37/Type 31 (Locobase 20371)

Data from F C Coleman, "British Locomotives for Belgian State Railways", Railway Review, Volume 66, (5 June 1920), p. 917; and "Powerful New 2-8-0 Type Locomotives for the Belgian State Railways", Railway Engineer, Volume 42, No 10 (October 1921), p. 384;and "2-8-0 Goods Locomotive, Belgian State Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 28 (15 May 1922), pp. 128-130; and RKitterman's post on the Type 37 on the DeviantArt website and "kanyiko"'s 4 June 2017 response laying out the A-W design's problems at [], last accessed 5 May 2018.

Coleman characterized this order as the largest single order of British locomotives for a European railway ever awarded (up to that time). They were part of the 350 locomotives delivered with the same cylinder volume, driver diameter, and boiler pressure to replace the scores destroyed in World War One. Twenty-five of the 200 were fitted with Robinson superheaters, the rest with Schmidts.

150 were supplied by US builders Alco (Locobase 5045) and Baldwin (Locobase 14593). The 200 British engines had the smallest grate of the three designs and they further differed from the Americans by mounting Belpaire fireboxes. Curiously, given the relatively small grate, LM gave the use of coal briquettes as a reason for the use of the square-shouldered furnaces.

Kanyiko said that the Type 37s revealed at least two serious problems after they entered service. In addition to sudden drops in boiler pressures, the engines tended to start rocking at speeds above 50 kph (31 mph). The post adds "These were actually bad enough for the SNCB/NMBS ...to retire the Type 37 in 1932.

Shelving 200 relatively powerful dual-service engines obviously represented a waste of resources. So the SNCB's shops began substantial rebuilding the class in 1936. To combat the rocking tendency, they replaced overbuilt cylinder guides with lighter ones and replaced the connecting rods with a newer and stronger design. The cylinders themselves were bushed to reduce diameters to 570 mm (22.44"). Meanwhile, the new boiler's pressure setting increased by 2 bar (27 psi) to 15.8 bar. Tubes and flues were shortened with the flues' count increasing by 7 to 35. The class no longer rocked and the SNCB raised maximum speed to 90 kph (56 mph).

Redesignated Type 31, only 96 conversions were completed before the Third Reich occupied Belgium in 1940. The other 104 Type 37s returned to service when the Nazis retrieved the German engines that had come to Belgium as part of World War One reparations imposed on Germany. 28 more Type 37s were rebuilt as Type 31s during the war with the other 76 receiving overhauls and being redesignated Type 30.

At the end of World War Two in 1945, 38 more were added to the Type 31 rebuild program, bringing that total to 162, numbered in the 31.001-31.200 series. At that time. their new reliability and higher speed led them to be used primarily as passenger engines. The 38 Type 30s (30.001-30.076, with other half the class gaining 31-series numbers after conversion) operated as freight and remained limited to 50 kph.

Type 30s were retired in the 1950s with Type 31s remaining in service longer. The last of those were withdrawn in 1960.