Class CB1 4-Cylinder
Tandem
Compound Hagans Articulated Tank Locomotive
Designed by Karel
Belčamin
Built in 1904 by
Henschel
& Sohn, Kassel, Germany
The RSR's most
notorious
incline may have been the one at Rovniebera, but the most severe was
the
short connecting line from Kannohpio to Arnogčo, with a ruling
gradient
of 1 in 39. The early promise of the Hagans type of articulated
locomotive
was sufficient, despite well-publicised maintenance problems, to
convince
the RSR to try one on this particularly difficult line. Not one to do
things
by halves, Karel Belčamin ordered this, the largest Hagans ever built,
from Henschel in 1904. The RSR's generous axle loadings allowed the
reciprocating
mechanism and frames to be made sufficiently robust to keep the engine
out of the shops for a reasonable time. The Hagans drive did indeed
work
well, but the articulated chassis seemed to do its utmost not to follow
the track. After putting up with this and other annoyances for a while,
Belčamin had the engine rebuilt in 1907 into a rigid-framed tandem
compound
4-8-2T, class D7. In this form the engine lasted until 1915. The 1 in
39
gradient had to wait until the coming of the class E1 0-10-0s in 1911.
Text and graphics © Norman Clubb 2012