Class
323FF 2-Cylinder Passenger Locomotive
Designed
by Mikhail Rodnivacek
Rebuilt
in 1957 from class 323F by RSR
Works, Bevice-Akohniçe,
Ruhnia
The
success of the taper-boiler 533BB 4-10-0s prompted Rodnivacek to apply
the same amendments to the Tešlov
323F 4-6-2s. The original version of both classes carried identical
boilers and so
did the rebuilds. The opportunity was also taken of fitting poppet
valves, boxpok
wheels and Vanderbilt tenders. The new boilers were a great improvement
on the earlier, parallel ones, allowing much harder continuous
steaming, and the new
poppet valves raised the efficiency and power of the engines beyond
recognition, admitting the 323FFs to express
passenger turns on the northern plains. During the 1980s, the
mainframes of many engines developed hair-line fractures, which were
attributed to unfavourable weight distribution at the rear end.
Certainly the large firebox was heavier than that of the original
parallel boiler. Strangely, this problem did not occur with the 533BBs.
At any event, there were by this time sufficient numbers of newer, more
modern locomotives on the RSR's roster, with the result that a cracked
frame was virtually an automatic death sentence. The last 323FF was
withdrawn in 1992.
Graphics
and text © Norman Clubb 2015