| NS 1600 | |
|---|---|
| by Supersnel11 | |
| Price | ƒ119.000 |
| Level | 33 |
| Statistics | |
| Type | Passenger |
| Top Speed | 100 km/h |
| Weight | 83 tons |
| Capacity | 320 tons |
| Passenger Capacity | 2 first class 3 second class |
| Length | 16,6 meters |
The NS 1600 was a class of 59 Dutch 2'B (4-4-0) passenger locomotives. The class was built and designed by Sharp Stewart and Co. between 1889 and 1903 for the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij (NRS).
Liveries
NS 1600 is available in Nederlandsche Spoorwegen green and as NRS 107 as a part of the Preserved Four gamepass. In the 2022 April Fools update it received a bright blue livery called 'Edward'.
Historical details
The early days
These locomotives were ordered at Sharp Stewart & Co. in 1888. They were the last locomotives the NRS would order before being disbanded in 1890. Sharp Stewart delivered a factory design with bogie, something had been used in the UK and US for decades, but was incredibly rare in Europe at the time. They were the first Dutch locomotives to have them, which granted them the nickname of "Rhijnbogen", after the Rhijn-railway where they were from the English word 'bogey'.
All nine of the first batch were tested on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway prior to being shipped to the NRS.
NRS 101-109 were put on the most important trains of the NRS, in particular the D-trains (international, long distance trains for which a surcharge had to be paid) to Germany. Without any locomotive changes, these locomotives pulled the D-trains to Oberhausen. They were quite the spectacle there; the Prussian railways did not have any bogied locomotives yet.
NRS 105 worked at the NCS line Utrecht-Zwolle for a short while. The turntable at Zwolle was too short, so the tender had to be separated from the locomotive and turned around by itself. And yet, the NCS liked the machine so much that they ordered a class of similar locomotives (later the NS 1500), and installed a new turntable at Zwolle.
The HSM & SS
The class of nine worked a little over the year at the NRS before it was disbanded. Five of them (NRS 101-103, 108 & 109) were sold to the Staatsspoorwegen and the remaining four were sold to the HSM. They were all reunited again when the SS sold theirs to the HSM in 1891.
At the HSM, these locomotives, now numbered 350-358 (in a different order than the NRS numbers), were a great success. They were part of the reason that the HSM decided to no longer order locomotives from Borsig. Additionally, Borsig was also a bit of financial trouble and the head of traction was replaced with someone from the SS, more used to the British rather than the German construction style.
The HSM liked these NRS machines, which they put into service in 1890 and '91, that they ordered eight more in that last year. In 1892, another 32 were ordered. In 1900 and 1903, two more orders were made of five locomotives each, which were upgraded on various points compared to the earlier 40 (see Technical details) The order of 1903 wasn't placed at Sharp Stewart, but at the North British Locomotive Company. Nevertheless, their most important work was done by 1907, when the first of the HSM 421-460 (later the NS 1900) entered service. The 'Rhijnbogen' were pushed to lesser secondary jobs, mainly the less important local trains.
A coal shortage during the the First World War forced the HSM to scrap a lot of services. Consequently, several of their locomotives, including 39 'Rhijnbogen', were stored away. The Rhijnbogen were not returned to service until 1919, with the last remaining stored until 1920.
The NS era
Under NS ownership, the NS 1601-1659 were pushed into lighter duty jobs like shunting, by more capable and newer locomotives. They were found across depots the country, but the original nine remained in the province Noord-Holland in 1920. Between 1924 and 1935, all the NRS locomotives were stationed at Den Haag. The other 50 were found mostly around the West of the Netherlands, including Den Haag depot. The progressing electrification in that side of the country caused steam locomotives to be pushed into the background more and more, but ten 1600s were still regularly used to pull local trains from Zutphen in the 1930s. That is because the first couple locomotives were written off in 1935, those being the 1601/02/06 and 1607.
30 locomotives of the class were withdrawn and scrapped in the following years, until the ban on scrapping in 1940. That year, 1604 was withdrawn, destined for the Dutch railway museum.
The remaining 29 of the class, none of these were originally NRS locomotives, stayed in service during the Second World War, but 17 were sent to Germany in the winter of '45. All but one returned, but of those 16, only four (1616/24/35 & 1646) were returned to service. Not many of the 1600s that remained within the Dutch borders were not used much either. Only seven were in service by 1947, of those the 1616/24/35/42/47 and 1656 were scrapped that year. The 1622 had survived 1949.
NS 1604/NRS 107
This locomotive, one of the original nine ordered by the NRS, was destined to go to the railway museum. Together with other rolling stock with the same destination, she was moved from the dilapidated shed at Boxtel to Roosendaal depot in 1943. And then the British bombed it. The locomotives that were damaged during this, including 1604, were stored in a large shed in Maastricht. Which the Germans blew up shortly before the Dutch liberation.
When the south of the Netherlands was liberated, all locomotives were brought to the locomotive scrapyard at Baarle-Nassau. The museum stock was treated like any other locomotive; their status as museum pieces was not known by the authorities. 1604 was stored in Almelo in 1947 and in Arnhem in 1948. It took until 1953 for the direction of NS to grant permission to restore the locomotives destined for the railway museum.
The 1604 had the honour of being restored first, that very year. She was restored to her NRS appearance and even got her original tender back. She now rests on a raised platform right at the entrance of the museum.
Technical details
NRS 101-109 / HSM 350-358
These locomotives were equipped with Westinghouse brakes (automatic and independent); a connection for steam heating on the back of the tender, a screw reverser, Gresham & Craven steam-powered sanders and a Kapteijn-speedometer, driven by one of the bogie wheels.
When the series 600 of the HSM (later NS 3200) entered service in 1895-1896, the tenders of the 601-605 & 609-612 were swapped with the tenders of these ex-NRS machines. The tenders of the 600s were of a new, broader design which had more capacity for both water and coal, which allowed the HSM to use these locomotives more effectively on long distance express trains.
Later, they were fitted with a second connection for steam heating, on the front of the locomotive. In the early 1900s, they also received a Knorr pre-heater with a heating surface of 9,2 m² and a pump with a capacity of 120 litres a minute.
Most of the class were equipped with an air bell and a tender cab by NS in the 1930s. NS also replaced the original speedometers with Stroudley-speedometers taken from other locomotives.
HSM 359-408
All locomotives ordered by the HSM differed on various points from the original nine the NRS ordered.
These locomotives were equipped with Westinghouse brakes (automatic and independent); connections for steam heating on the front and back; Knorr pre-heaters with a heating surface of 9,2 m² and a pump with a capacity of 120 litres a minute; Stroudly-speedometers; a handbrake on the tender and a Gresham & Craven steam-powered sander (that only worked on first driven axle, going forwards).
Compared to the NRS 101-109, these had:
- longer smokeboxes;
- cast iron smokestacks with a casted crown;
- bogies with smaller wheels that were further apart.
The machines in the last delivery (HSM 399-408) differed from the earlier produced 1700s. Among the changes was that these had a maximum boiler pressure of 10,5 atmosphere. The steam dome was placed further back and the boilers were placed 76 mm higher than those of the first 30 the HSM ordered.
The NS 1614, 1621 and 1640 were for trials with the Weir feed pump & pre-heater in 1916. They kept the Weir mechanism whilst the other 1600s were given Knorr pre-heaters in that same year. At some point in their HSM-era, the small air pumps were replaced by compound air pumps.
Trivia
- The NS 1600 is a high level passenger locomotive, with good speed, great class capacity, a stylish choice for high levels.
- The NS 1600 features the old chuffing sounds, and whistle sounds for the NS 2100
- The NS 1600 is the oldest locomotive to be in streamlined, being first put in service in 1889.
- The NS 1600 was added in version 0.4.40.
- The preserved NRS 107 livery was added in version 0.5.
Gallery
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The NS 1600 in the "Edward " livery.
Doubleheading
Doubleheading compatibility