Class C5B 4-Cylinder
Tandem
Compound Passenger Locomotive
Designed by Karel
Belčamin
Rebuilt from Class C5
in 1901 by RSR Works, Bevice-Akohniçe, Ruhnia
Finally, hoped Karel
Belčamin,
the C5s had a boiler that provided them with enough steam. And so it
was.
In the event, the boiler used on the C5A was not a success, although
the
in the days before superheating, the twin domes worked quite well in
keeping
the steam as dry as possible and preventing priming. The C5B had a
single
dome and thus lent itself admirably to superheating, which was applied
from 1907 onwards, the only change in the engines' appearance being the
removal of the Crampton steam pipe. At the same time as fitting a new
boiler, Belčamin carried out various experiments with the balancing, a
perennial
difficulty with tandem compounds. None of this work brought much
benefit
and the problem remained unsolved. In later years, the engines were
relegated
to secondary duties, where speeds were lower and the reciprocating
masses
less troublesome. Nonetheless, a few were rebuilt again in 1912 as
class
C5C. The last C5B was withdrawn in 1937.
Text and graphics © Norman Clubb 2012