South Indian Railway 2-6-4 Locomotives in India

Class BESA/PT (1910) (Locobase 4248)

Data from "The Work of the British Engineering Standards Association as Applied to Locomotives and Rolling Stock: The Standardization of Locomotives for Indian Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXV [25] (15 August 1919), pp. 120-123. See also Cyril Hitchcock, "The Standardisation of Locomotives in India, 1910", Engineer, Volume 110 (28 October 1910), pp. 475; The Engineer's editors presented an emphatic dismissal of the notion of standarisation of types (e.g.: "Standard Goods", "Atlantic Passenger") in the same issue at p. 468. A rebuttal by "LS" appeared in the 11 November 1910 Engineer at p. 511.

These symmetrical Passenger Tanks (PT) had all inside motion that was, like the Belpaire boiler, identical to that of the British Engineering Standards Association SG (Standard Goods) 6-coupled freight engine. The PTs came in two sizes; this one used the larger of the two SG boilers. (The same two boiler designs were used in the 4-4-0 SP design.)

According to the website of India's National Rail Museum -- [] --"The PT was one of the first BESA-era locomotives to be fitted with outside cylinders. All the previous BESA engines had hitherto been inside cylinder machines. Barring this, the rather large-ish PTs had nothing to browbeat about: they were used for suburban passenger train workings on the erstwhile SIR. (now SR)."

See the HP 4-6-0 for full description of the BESA intention and varying views of its utility.

Data from [] (30 June 2003) Dr. Jonathan Smith of Iowa State ([] ) for adhesion weight.