Russian locomotive class Kh

The Russian class Х (Kh) was an early type of Russian steam locomotive. Between 1895 and 1900, 235 were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of the United States. Some locomotives were modernized in the early 1900s, fitted with superheaters and compound cylinders. Russian Railways designated them Хп class. (ru)

Russian Railways class Х
Chinese Eastern Railway class Х
Manchukuo National SoriA Class(ソリA)
A class Х steam locomotive on the Vladikavkaz Railway
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
BuilderBaldwin Locomotive Works
Build date1895, 1898-1900
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte2-8-0
 • UICConsolidation
Gauge1,524 mm (5 ft 0 in)
Leading dia.915 mm (3 ft 0 in)
Driver dia.1,270 mm (50.000 in)
Length10,443 mm (34 ft 3.14 in)
Loco weight66,300 kg (146,200 lb)
Fuel typeCoal
Boiler pressure12 kg/cm2 (170 lbf/in2)
CylindersTwo, outside
Career
Operators
ClassRR: Х
CER: Б → Х
MNR: ソリA
Number in class235(Russian Railway)
121(Chinese Eastern Railway)
Withdrawn1955 (in USSR)
1945 (in China)
PreservedХ180 at Changchun, China
DispositionMost scrapped, one preserved

Engines of the Хм (Murmansk) sub-class were built and sent to Russia during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War between 1915 and 1916, and transferred to the Murmansk Railway after the war. These engines were of the same wheel arrangement as the class X, and also built in the U.S. However, they were built by H.K. Porter, Inc. rather than Baldwin and were otherwise very different from the X class.

In 1923, there were still 127 steam locomotives of the Х series (including the Хм) still in service. By 1940, the number was reduced to 26 engines, and the last of the class was retired in 1955.

CER class Х and MNR ソリA (SoriA) class
CER locomotive Х176
Preserved CER Х class no. 180 on display at the Imperial Palace.

The Chinese Eastern Railway also bought Baldwin-built locomotives identical to those of the Russian Railways' Х class; Baldwin's works designation for these locomotives was 10.22/42E. Originally designated class Б (B) by the CER, Baldwin in Philadelphia built fifty in 1898 (Б151-Б200), forty in 1899 (Б201-Б240), and a final batch of 31 in 1900 (Б241-Б271).[1] They were redesignated class Х (Kh) in 1921 and numbered Х151 through Х271.

After the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo, the Soviet Union sold its share of the North Manchuria Railway, as the CER had been renamed in 1932, to the new state's government on 23 March 1935,[2] It was then merged into the state-owned Manchukuo National Railway, which designated these locomotives ソリA (SoriA) class. Not all of the CER's Х-class engines went to the MNR; some ended up in service in the USSR around Vladivostok.

In 2005, an X Locomotive was found buried in Lalin River, Jilin Province, China. This engine, no. 180, was excavated, restored, and is on display outside the Museum of the Imperial Palace of the Manchu State, Changchun.[3][4][5]

References
  1. В.А. Раков. Паровозы серии Х // Локомотивы отечественных железных дорог 1845-1955. — 2-е, переработанное и дополненное. — Москва: «Транспорт», 1995. — С. 160-162. — ISBN 5-277-00821-7.
  2. Chinese Eastern Railway, ChinaEncyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  3. 吉林出土百年火车头 火车头被扶正五十厘米, news.163.com (in Chinese), archived from the original on 2005-04-08
  4. 吉林发现百年火车头 铁路部门当地政府争归属权, news.163.com (in Chinese), archived from the original on 2017-10-15
  5. 百年火车头正式“入轨” 火车头4个小时走了60米, news.163.com (in Chinese), archived from the original on 2017-10-15
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