Suomen valtionrautatiet 4-6-2 Locomotives in Finland

Class Ukko-Pekka/P-1/Hr1 (Locobase 4217)

Data from Markku Karvonen's personal.inet.fi/koti/markku.karvonen/prk/vanha3.htm (visited 29 March 2003). Adhesion weight from [] ...

The largest and fastest of all Finnish passenger steam engines, this class was built primarily by Lokomo over 20 years. (Tampella contributed 8 in 1955.) According to the "Ultimate Narcissist", a Finnish railfan whose website appears as [] (visited 28 Feb 2003), these engines were designed in response to a demand for more power. Their nickname, which translates as "Grandpa Peter", was shared by the then-president of Finland PE Svinhuvud. It stood, says UN, for "greatness and power."

Although the building program was delayed by the war, the Hr1s soon became the premier passenger engines. Even in the 1960s, they averaged a bit under 10,000 km (6,200 miles) per month. The last two -- 1020-1021 -- had roller bearings and were dubbed "Rolla Peter". Photographs in Ziel and Eagleson (1973) show them with slender, tapered main and side rods, spoked drivers, small "elephant-ear" smoke lifters flanking the smokebox, a sloping glacis over a slotted pilot, and plain, straight lines.