Px38-805, named ''Leon'', is a preserved

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

steam locomotive built by

Fablok Fablok is a Polish manufacturer of locomotives, based in Chrzanów. Until 1947 the official name was ''First Factory of Locomotives in Poland Ltd.'' ( pl, Pierwsza Fabryka Lokomotyw w Polsce Sp. Akc.), Fablok being a widely used syllabic abbreviat ...

in Chrzanów, Poland. It was the only locomotive of PKP class Px38, and one of three built locomotives of Fablok W5A type.

History

In 1929 the First Locomotive Factory in Poland (Fablok) designed a W5A type locomotive, basing upon its earlier W2A type (PKP Tx26-427), and manufactured two units (later designated PKP class Px27). In 1938 another one slightly differing locomotive was ordered by

Września Września (german: Wreschen) is a town in west-central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants (1995). It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Poznań Voivodeship (1975–1998), on the Wrześnica R ...

County Railway (''Wrzesińska Kolej Powiatowa''), later to become Px38 class.Pokropiński (2016), p. 38-42, 204 It was a D () locomotive with a two-axle tender. It was powered by a simple twin engine, working on a saturated steam, developing 110 hp power output. The locomotive, factory no. 727, was given a stock number 5 (W.K.P. N°5). It survived World War II, working on its railway. After the war, all county railways were taken over by the

Polish State Railways (''PKP S.A.''; en, Polish State Railways, Inc.) is the dominant Rail transport operations, railway operator in Poland. The company was founded when the former state-owned enterprise was divided into several units based on the need for separati ...

(PKP) and in 1947 the locomotive was included into a collective PKP Px4 class and given a designation Px4-805. According to new regulations, in 1961 the locomotive was renumbered to Px38-805, being the only machine of Px38 class (P - locomotive with a tender, x - D axle arrangement, 38 – Polish origin locomotive built in 1938). In following years the locomotive was used on most of PKP 600 mm railways. From 1958 it stationed for a longer term in

Myszyniec Myszyniec is a town in Ostrołęka County, Masovian Voivodeship, northeastern Poland, with 3,032 inhabitants (2004). History Myszyniec was founded in 1654 by the Jesuits in accordance with a royal privilege issued by King John II Casimir Vas ...

, and from 1973 in Białośliwie. From 1983 it has been stationed in

Żnin Żnin (german: Znin, 1941-45: Dietfurt) is a town in north-central Poland with a population of 14,181 (June 2014). It is in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (previously Bydgoszcz Voivodeship) and is the capital of Żnin County. The historical ...

, currently on a museum railway of

Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Wenecja Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Wenecja (Polish ''Venice'') near Żnin (Poland) is an open-air museum collecting and exhibiting steam locomotives, passenger and freight cars, trolleys, railwaymen's tools, signalling equipment, contents of an old wa ...

. From 2002 the locomotive has a name ''Leon'', in a memory of a Narrow Gauge Railway Museum guide Leon Lichociński. It has been active, as of 2015. In 2015 it left Poland for the first time, taking part in narrow gauge railway meetings in Germany and

Pithiviers Pithiviers () is a commune in the Loiret department, north central France. It is one of the subprefectures of Loiret. It is twinned with Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, England and Burglengenfeld in Bavaria, Germany. Its attractions incl ...

in France.Hermann Schmidtendorf: ''Px38-805 po raz pierwszy za granicą'' in: „Świat Kolei” Nr. 9/2015 p. 7 (in Polish); Hermann Schmidtendorf: ''Px38-805 we Francji'' in: „Świat Kolei” Nr. 1/2016. p. 40 (in Polish)

References

External links

Px38-805 - Wciąż pod parą
Additional photographs and information (Polish) {{PKP locomotives Narrow gauge steam locomotives of Poland Preserved steam locomotives of Poland Polish State Railways steam locomotives 600 mm gauge railway locomotives 0-8-0 locomotives

History

References

See also

External links