The Fablok T3A also known as TKh49 or Ferrum 47 / 724 is a class of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

industrial

tank locomotive A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

. It was 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.'' (), Fablok being a widely used syllabic abbreviation of ''Fabryka Lokomotyw'', among others as th ...

in 1948-1961 years.

History

The locomotive is based on a draft from the years 1927-1929; seven locomotives of the factory designation T1A, basing upon Austrian license, were built by Fablok then. Its development with a superheater was Fablok T2A (Ferrum 29 or Tkh29), of which eleven were built before World War II. The name Ferrum came from Ferrum Ironworks, for which it was developed. The technical documentation survived until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and ten more T2A were manufactured. Due to big need of industrial locomotives in looted post-war Poland, it was decided to develop it into a simplified class of locomotive, factory name T3A or Ferrum 47, from 1947 year. Among other it lacked a superheater. At least 437 examples were made in the years 1948 - 1961, including 30 to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, 3 to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and 3 to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Some factory records indicate 480 locomotives made, but details are not confirmed. Later production locomotives, with more welding adopted, were referred to as ''Ferrum 724''. In China the locomotives were designated as XK 13 and several examples of the class were reported to be working in 1993, with at least three preserved thereafter. These locomotives worked exclusively in industry, like coalmines, ironworks, chemical works, and were usually designated with TKh prefix, meaning 0-6-0T freight locomotives in Polish State Railways designation system, merged with serial numbers. Only in 1996 one locomotive was acquired by the

Polish State Railways The Polish State Railways ( , abbr.: PKP S.A.) is a Polish state-owned holding company (legally a sole-shareholder company of the State Treasury) comprising the rail transport holdings of the country's formerly dominant namesake railway oper ...

(PKP) for its museum depot in

Chabówka Chabówka is a village located on the outskirts of the southern Poland, Polish town of Rabka-Zdrój, Rabka, in the Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship. With population of 1,600 (as for 2006), Chabówka is a popular tourist attraction becau ...

, and formally designated as PKP class TKh49, namely TKh49-1, thus being the newest PKP steam locomotive.Paweł Terczyński: ''Najmłodszy parowóz PKP'' he youngest PKP steam locomotive "Świat Kolei" Nr. 2/1997, p.6 (in Polish)

Preservation

The locomotive TKh49-1 is preserved at the ''Museum of Vehicles and Railway Technology'' in Chabówka, whilst thirteen more are in other museums or as monuments. Several are in working condition. After industrial service, several locomotives have been exported to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for use on

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

s as detailed below.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fablok TKh49 0-6-0T locomotives C n2t locomotives Fablok locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1948