2-8-0 Steam Locomotives in Sweden

Class E2 (Locobase 4841)

Data and details from Dirty Nico's Steamdepot [] . See also [], accessed 27 January 2008.

Originally built as 0-8-0s in the 'teens, most of the E class (Locobase 4840) was converted by the SJ in the 1930s. It's an odd direction to take, because most such conversion work involved turning a small Consolidation into a switcher (shunter) by removing the leading pony truck. Here, however, the SJ was aiming to boost the class's maximum speed, so they added a truck. At the same time they shifted the firebox forward on the frame by 25 cm (ca. 10") to distribute the weight more effectively over the now five axles. Total length increased by a full metre.

Apparently the design was a success, because the two types -- the 40 that remained 0-8-0s and the 90 that were converted -- soldiered on for decades. Road numbers were E2 903-906, 909, 933-936, 948-951, 954-957, 979-985, 987-988, 1040, 1044, 1046-1047, 1071-1072, 1086, 1091-1097, 1099-1101, 1105, 1119-1125, 1127-1128, 1151-1152, 1154-115, 1179-1180, 1182-1187, 1190-1194, 1196, 1217, 1238, 1240-1242, 1326, 1329, 1331, 1333-1335, 1454-1457, 1459, 1461-1463.

Like the B-class 4-6-0s, many of this class received welded fireboxes in the 1950s.

954 was one of the last steam locomotives to be retained in Sweden's strategic reserve, which was disbanded in 2016. After lying idle for 45 years, the Consolidation was steamed on 16 June 2016. (It had to be shut down again because of injector problems.)

Class G4, G6 (Locobase 20386)

Data from Litt G4, one of a series of SJ locomotive diagrams archived by Anders Lundbing on [], last accessed 10 June 2017 (Snabcon AB advertised its tools for mounting RJ45 connectors on bundled cables.) and Tommy Nilsson's Svenska-lok.se website at Svenska-lok.se, last accessed 21 June 2018.

As noted in Locobase 20385, which describes the Swedish upgrade to 21 German 0-8-0s bought in 1918, a few of the resulting G2 class and most of the Gb2 class, were further modified by adding a front carrying axle, increasing cylinder stroke, and enlarging the piston valves to 220 mm (8.66"). The upgrade retained the tail rods that supported the cylinders' piston heads.

The G4s consisted of the 1410, converted from the original Ga 0-8-0 in 1942 and designated G3 in 1942, and the 1418, converted from Ga in 1948, at which point both were redesignated G4.Thirteen G6s were also rebuilt to the same design in 1942.

A photograph of the 1464 shows the heavily riveted substructure mounted on the original buffer beam to carry the leading truck.

(The evaporative heating surface area includes tube heating surface area as calculated using the tubes' exterior diameters (water side)--as in British and North American practice. Calculated using the tubes' and flues' interior (or fire side) diameters of 44.5 mm/122 mm, evaporative heating surface area was 145.70 sq m/1,568 sq ft). The design had a deep firebox, outside piston valves and cylinders, and the tightly enclosed cab of all Swedish locomotives.

Class Ma (Locobase 2730)

Data from Stig Lundin's reproduction of the I SJ minnesskrift "Statens JSrnvSgar 1856-1906" "Tabel ofver lokomotivens hufvuddimensioner, vikter och anskaffningskostnad" originally available in 2004 at [] . see also Maurice Demoulin, Locomotive Actuelle ... (Paris: Librairie Polytechnique Ch.Beranger, 1906), pp. 281-282; and Tommy Nilsson's Svenska-Lok at [], last accessed 28 June 2018. Motala supplied the Ma class leader. NOHAB produced all but two of the remaining Mas with Falun delivering 702-703. Motal, Falun, and Atlas supplied all fourteen Mbs. Motala delivered 646-650 (1901-1902), Atlas contributed 800-803 in 1902, and Falun added 761-764 in 1903,

Demoulin simply identifies this engine as a recent Consolidation supplied to the Swedish railway system. He noted that it had a "bissel-bogie" of the Krauss pattern in which the front truck and the first coupled axle traversed as a unit under the boiler.

Designed for the mineral traffic on the Lappland Ore line, these two-cylinder compounds -- among the first locomotives to have been designed in Sweden -- had impressive dimensions. In particular, they had large boilers and grates. (The evaporative heating surface area includes tube heating surface area as calculated using the tubes' exterior diameters (water side)--as in British and North American practice. Calculated using the tubes' interior (or fire side) diameter, evaporative heating surface area was 213.5 sq m/2,298 sq ft). The design had a deep firebox, outside piston valves and cylinders, and the tightly enclosed cab of all Swedish locomotives.

Mb engines, delivered in the same years, differed in key respects; see Locobase 20383. . (Mas were visually distinguishable from Mbs by the five bands wrapped around the boiler at narrower intervals than the three of the Mb design

All but 779 and 917 were sold for scrap in 1926. 779 somehow eluded the torch and was donated to the Railway Museum in Tomteboda in 1968. 917 was simpled in 1924 as the SJ's lone Md and operated until 1935.

Class Mb (Locobase 20383)

Data from Stig Lundin's reproduction of the I SJ minnesskrift "Statens JSrnvSgar 1856-1906" "Tabel ofver lokomotivens hufvuddimensioner, vikter och anskaffningskostnad" originally available in 2004 at [] Nilsson's Svenska-Lok at [], last accessed 28 June 2018. Motala supplied the Ma class leader. NOHAB produced all but two of the remaining Mas with Falun delivering 702-703. Motal, Falun, and Atlas supplied all fourteen Mbs. Motala delivered 646-650 (1901-1902), Atlas contributed 800-803 in 1902, and Falun added 761-764 in 1903,

Designed for the mineral traffic on the Lappland Ore line, these two-cylinder compounds -- mirrored the Ma class shown in Locobase 2730 in power dimensions and the "bissel-bogie" of the Krauss pattern in which the front truck and the first coupled axle traversed as a unit under the boiler.

But the Mb class differed differed in key respects. Weight control for lighter branch lines led to significantly smaller boilers pressed to a lower pressure and holding fewer, slightly shorter tubes. The design had a deep firebox, outside piston valves and cylinders, and the tightly enclosed cab of all Swedish locomotives. Mbs were visually distinguishable from the Mbs by the three bands wrapped around the Mb's boiler at wider intervals than the five of the Ma design.

(The evaporative heating surface area includes tube heating surface area as calculated using the tubes' exterior diameters (water side)--as in British and North American practice. Calculated using the tubes' interior (or fire side) diameter, evaporative heating surface area was 150.10 sq m/1,616 sq ft). The design had a deep firebox, outside piston valves and cylinders, and the tightly enclosed cab of all Swedish locomotives.

Class Mc/G7 (Locobase 20384)

Data from Litt E6, one of a series of SJ locomotive diagrams archived by Anders Lundbing on [], last accessed 10 June 2017 (Snabcon AB advertised its tools for mounting RJ45 connectors on bundled cables.) and Tommy Nilsson's Svenska-lok.se website at Svenska-lok.se, last accessed 21 June 2018.

Designed for the mineral traffic on the Lappland Ore line, this trio entered service as two-cylinder compounds (Locobase 20383). They had a Krauss-pattern bogie in which the front truck and the first coupled axle traversed as a unit under the boiler.

According to Tommy Nilsson, the 764 was converted to simple-expansion to compare fuel economy with the compounds. Although the SJ found the compounds to offer better economy, the railway chose instead to fit the 764 with larger cylinders and a B-series boiler that included a superheater and a larger firebox. It also received larger cylinders.

The boiler sacrificed 84 small tubes, but gained 26 larger flues that helped offset all but 110 sq ft (10.22 sq m) of the original evaporative heating surface area. And the superheater's area comprised a more than adequate percentage of the combined total.

All three served the SJ until 1937, when the 763-764 were sold to the Helsingborg - HSssleholms JSrnvSgar (HHJ) and the 803 went to the NSssjö - Oskarshamn (NOJ) as its #32. The HHJ engines returned to the SJ fold in 1942 and received a G7 class ID. They were joined by the NOJ's 32 in 1946. All three operated into the late 1950s, after which they went into the contingency reserve from which they were deleted and scrapped in the early 1970s.

(The evaporative heating surface area includes tube heating surface area as calculated using the tubes' exterior diameters (water side)--as in British and North American practice. Calculated using the tubes' and flues' interior (or fire side) diameters of 44.5 mm/122 mm, evaporative heating surface area was 145.70 sq m/1,568 sq ft). The design had a deep firebox, outside piston valves and cylinders, and the tightly enclosed cab of all Swedish locomotives.

Class N3/G8 (Locobase 20387)

Data from Litt G8, one of a series of SJ locomotive diagrams archived by Anders Lundbing on [], last accessed 10 June 2017 (Snabcon AB advertised its tools for mounting RJ45 connectors on bundled cables.) and Tommy Nilsson's Svenska-lok.se website at Svenska-lok.se, last accessed 21 June 2018.

These locomotives were originally delivered to the GSvle- Dala Railways in two batches. The first two (53-54) were delivered by Falun (works numbers 92-93) in 1908 as 0-8-0s. The second set (55-56) arrived a year later as 2-8-0s (94-95). The latter two were turned into 0-8-0s in 1927 by removing the front truck, adding a closed cab, and fitting the four with an SJ standard E boiler.

The SJ converted the quartet to 2-8-0s in 1950-1951. As 2-8-0s, their maximum speed was set at 60 kph (37 mph).

All were retired in 1957.

(NB: Locobase's specifications show the evaporative heating surface area using the tubes' outer diameter (i.e., the water side). The SJ's calculation used the narrower, fire-side diameters of 44 mm and 122 mm (1.73" and 4.80"), tube and flue respectively, which produced a total EHS of 113.7 sq m (1,224 sq ft).)