Great Indian Peninsula 2-10-0 Locomotives in India

Class N/1 (Locobase 6444)

Data from "Four-cylinder 10-Coupled Freight Locomotive, Great Indian Peninsula Railway", The Locomotive, Volume XXVI, No 331 (15 March 1920), pp. 45-47; "Decapod Locomotives for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway's Freight Service", The Locomotive, Volume XXVII [27] (15 October 1921), p. 272.; and [] (visited 27 December 2004), compiled by Dr Sundar, who writes the accompanying description. See also "Oil-burning 2-10-0 Goods Locomotives for the G. I. P. Railway," The Technical Review (31 May 1921), pp. 130-131; and "A Noteworthy Locomotive for India", Railway Engineer, Volume 42, No 5 (May 1921), pp. 178-181.

Sundar tells us that these were oil-burners used to scale the 2.7% grade between Bombay and Igatpuri. The Ocotber 1921 LM article reported that the oil fueling depot at Nadgaon hadn't been completed, so the decks ran betwen Bombay and Kasara on the northeast side and Bombay and Karjat on the southeast side. Train loads had to be limited to 1,600 tons because the screw couplings used for the trains weren't strong enough for longer trains. Moreover, siding accommodation at wayside stations could only hold 60 vehicles.

When the GIP electrified those lines, the NorthWest Railway (NWR) snapped up these sturdy haulers for the Bolan Pass, which Sundar notes obviated the need for purchasing large Garratts. They were rated at 1,600 tons up a 0.67% grade.

Sundar makes several claims for this class. It was the only four-cylinder non-articulated freight engine ever built; it was the only ten-coupled to enter service in India, and was the very first ten-coupled to be built by a British manufacturer. Dr Sundar supposes a quite-likely reason for a four-cylinder layout -- two cylinders generating the force needed for the job might have wracked the frame. He also astutely supposes that "With the inherent perfect balance made possible by four cylinders and other refinements like the tailrod in the cylinder (visible in the photographs), it must have been the smoothest-running goods engine ever built." Indeed, LM reported that the decks had "given very satisfactory results from the view of economy and of smooth running." They were "totally free of the sinuous motion of some two-cylinder locomotives."

The data show how big was this locomotive. Photographs reveal a capacious Belpaire firebox. The TR article noted that each piston received its steam through a 10" (254 mm) piston valve. The inside cylinders drove on the second axle, the outside cylinders on the third. A Weir hot water tank supplied the top feed system.