The Liberation Class was a class of

2-8-0 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, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

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 ...

s designed for heavy freight work in post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. 120 were built by the Vulcan Foundry of

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. The ...

in 1946.

Design

They shared some features with the earlier WD Austerity 2-8-0 and WD Austerity 2-10-0 which in turn had been based on the

LMS Stanier Class 8F The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 8F is a class of steam locomotives designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order), as a freight version of William Stanier's successful ...

. They were however built to the continental loading gauge, but the design was intended to last, not a short-term ''

kriegslok ''Kriegslokomotiven'' (german: for "war locomotives", singular: ''Kriegslokomotive'') or ''Kriegsloks'' were locomotives produced in large numbers during the Second World War under Nazi Germany. Their construction was tailored to the economic cir ...

''.

Distribution

Ten went to Luxembourg and the rest to

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. The

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...

distributed them as follows: * 10 to as

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

as CFL class 47 * 65 to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

as JŽ class 38; Đuro Đaković built 10 more 1957–1958 * 30 to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

as PKP class Tr202 * 15

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

as ČSD class 459.0

Preservation

One liberation class locomotive remains in Krakow,

TR202-19 built in 1946. A second (also not in working condition) is in Jaworzyna Slask, Lower Silesia, South West

Tr202-28.

References

External links

Tr202

Vulcan Foundry Publicity Leaflet on the Liberation Class
Freight locomotives Vulcan Foundry locomotives 2-8-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1946 Steam locomotives of Czechoslovakia Steam locomotives of Luxembourg Steam locomotives of Poland Steam locomotives of Yugoslavia Standard gauge locomotives of Yugoslavia Standard gauge locomotives of Czechoslovakia Standard gauge locomotives of Luxembourg Standard gauge locomotives of Poland Chemins de fer luxembourgeois locomotives Czechoslovak State Railways locomotives Polish State Railways steam locomotives {{poland-rail-transport-stub