The Egyptian State Railways 545 class was a type of

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

mixed traffic

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

Egyptian State Railways Egyptian National Railways (ENR; ar, السكك الحديدية المصرية, Al-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah al-Miṣriyyah) is the national railway of Egypt and managed by the parastatal Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA; ar, الهيئة الق� ...

(Egyptian Republic Railways after the Egyptian Revolution of 1952; now Egyptian National Railways).

History

Between 1920 and 1938 various locomotive builders supplied ESR with 180

2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...

tender locomotives,Hughes, 1891, page 33 of which 80 were of the 545 class. The initial order for 58 of this class was built in Britain in 1928. Of these, 40 came from the

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wor ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland and 20 from Armstrong Whitworth in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

, England. The design was very British in style, but in 1931 Borsig Lokomotiv Werke GmbH in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany supplied ESR with another 20 to the same design. Numbers 551, 568, 573 and 596 were rebuilt in 1939 with Caprotti valve gear. Number 590 was damaged at El Daba in June 1942 and withdrawn from stock in September 1943. In ESR service all members of the class were painted green.Proud & Smith, 1946, page 4 In August 1941 Palestine Railways started operating a through passenger service between Haifa and Cairo via El Kantara East and a newly completed swing bridge at El Ferdan; in 1942–43 number 560 had ''"The Orient Express"'' painted on the sides of its cab for hauling this service between Cairo and El Kantara East. All standard gauge steam locomotives in Egypt were withdrawn by 1963.

545 class in Israel

During the 1956 Israeli invasion of Sinai five members of the class were captured on the former Palestine Railways main line between El Kantara East and Gaza: numbers 546, 550 and 557 (NBL works numbers 23683, 23687 and 23714) and numbers 607 and 613 (Borsig works numbers 13985 and 13991).Cotterell, 1984, page 137

Israel Railways Israel Railways Ltd. , dba Israel Railways ( he, רַכֶּבֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Rakevet Yisra'el''), is the state-owned principal railway company responsible for all inter-city, commuter, and freight rail transport in Israel. Isr ...

may have taken four of them into stock and used them around

Lod Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephe ...

in central Israel for one or two years. They were withdrawn and scrapped by 1959, when steam traction on Israel Railways officially ceased.

References

Sources

* * *{{cite book , editor1-last=Proud , editor1-first=Peter , editor2-last=Smith , editor2-first=C , year=1946 , title=The Standard Gauge Locomotives of the Egyptian State Railways and The Palestine Railways 1942-1945 , place=London , publisher= Railway Correspondence and Travel Society 2-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1928 1920s in rail transport Suez Crisis NBL locomotives Armstrong Whitworth locomotives Borsig locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Egypt Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge steam locomotives of Israel