Belgian State 4-4-2 Locomotives in Belgium

Class Type 15 (Locobase 6809)

Data from the table presented on pages 405, 407 of the Groupe VI. - GTnie civil. - Moyens de transport. DeuxiFme partie. Classes 32 (Tome I), part of the series of Rapports du Jury Internationale of the Exposition Unverselle Internationale de 1900 Paris Exposition, hosted on the website of Le Conservatoire numTrique des Arts & MTtiers ([], Accessed 21 August 2005).

The Jury report tells us that the exhibition engine was La Meuse works #1539. Between Brussels and Baulers, running over a line with a ruling grade of 1.3% and trailing 160 tonnes, the 2515 hit 48 km/h (30 mph). Brussels to Mons trailing 161 tonnes in another test saw a speed of 60 km/h (37 mph) and 69 km/h (43 mph) up a 0.4% grade.

Class Type 15 (Locobase 9181)

Data from Maurice Demoulin, Locomotive Actuelle ... (Paris: Librairie Polytechnique Ch.Beranger, 1906), p 206-207. See also excerpt from Phil Dambly. " Septième période, 1898-1908. - Régime Mac Intosh", Nos inoubliables vapeurs ("our unforgettable steam locomotives"), 1966, posted by Rixkee on Rixke Rail's Archives, 8 June 2011, last accessed 8 October 2023.

This was the production version of the 2515 that was shown at the 1900 Paris Exhibition (see Locobase 6809). In most respects it was a much bigger locomotive, however.

Type 15 heating surface to grate area ratio seems low, but it likely reflects the need to use relatively low-BTU coal. In his survey of Belgian steam, Dambly stated that this large class of passenger tanks "performed excellent service throughout the network."

Some of these were superheated; see Locobase 10595.

Class Type 15S - superheated/Type 16 (Locobase 10595)

Data from "Recent Locomotives of the Belgian State Rys," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol XII (15 December 1906), p.202. See also J B Flamme, Les Materiel des Chemins de Fer a L'Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles de 1910 (Paris: H. Dunod et E Pinat, 1911), p. 50; and excerpt from Phil Dambly. " Septième période, 1898-1908. - Régime Mac Intosh", Nos inoubliables vapeurs ("our unforgettable steam locomotives"), 1966, posted by Rixkee on Rixke Rail's Archives, 8 June 2011, last accessed 8 October 2023.

Some of the later Type 15s (the saturated version is shown in Locobase 9181) were delivered with superheaters, which forced the usual trade-off between tubes and flues, but which resulted in drier steam. The installation seems exploratory, smaller than Flamme would adopt only a few years later.

In his 1911 description of the upgrade, Flamme commented that the locomotives were equally at home in stop-start service that featured rapid acceleration or on more direct, limited-stop operation of a smaller train. Maximum water carried varied from 5,000 litres(1,321 US gallons) in the shorter service to 6,500 litres (1,717 gallons) in longer runs.

In his survey of Belgian steam, Dambly wrote these "beautiful" locomotives could haul trains at 100 kph (62 mph) over relatively flat terrain.

NB: Evaporative heating surface area in the specs uses the water-side (i.e., external) diameter of the tubes. When calculated using the fire side (internal diameter), total EHS came to 80.92 sq m (871 sq ft).

Class Type 6 (Locobase 9179)

Data from Maurice Demoulin, Locomotive Actuelle ... (Paris: Librairie Polytechnique Ch.Beranger, 1906), p 206.

This mixed-traffic class was presented at an exhibition at Liege in 1906. The internally finned Serve tubes were credited with a great deal more heating surface than the outside diameter of the tubes would suggest. According to contemporary accounts, total heating surface area amounted to 292.98 sq m (3,154 sq ft).