| NS 4300 | |
|---|---|
| by Synchorus | |
| Price | ƒ43.000 |
| Level | 15 |
| Statistics | |
| Type | Mixed |
| Top Speed | 65 km/h |
| Weight | 128 tons |
| Capacity | 390 tons |
| Passenger Capacity | 1 first class 2 second class |
| Length | 19,4 meters |
The NS 4300 was a class of 237 1'D (2-8-0) British austerity locomotives used by the Nederlandsche Spoorwegen. This was the biggest class of steam locomotives NS would ever own.
Liveries
The NS 4300 is available in three NS green liveries: the standard with lengthened smokestack; large smoke deflectors and small smoke deflectors, as well as in War Department green(only accessible with the gamepass).
Historical details
The design
Pre-war
Just before the outbreak of WWII, the Great Britain created the Ministry of Supply, which included the Directorate of Transport and Materials. The DTM was led by a head engineer of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS). The Ministry of Supply ordered 240 locomotives to help with the growing need for traction in the UK. These machines would be, minus a few unimportant details, equal to the LMS 8F, a type of locomotive that had been in service since 1935. The first one was produced by the North British Locomotive Company and delivered in late May of 1940. A total of 204 1'D locomotives were built for the War Department, of which many would later be shipped to the Middle East.
Mid-war
The designs of the 8F were too time-consuming and heavy on strategic resources to continue the production. An alternative design, using less time and resources, resulted in the Austerity 1'D, 1'E and C locomotives, some of which would later become the NS 4300, NS 5000 & NS 8800 series respectively. The 1'D were the standard design with 935 built.
In early 1944, these 'austerities' were shipped to Europe. At first, only the 1'D locomotives were shipped over, all but three made the crossing. However, all three types were leased to various industries in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Even the US army used these machines at large, albeit due to a lack of US locomotives in their sectors.
The NS years
Mid-war
The Dutch had heard of these locomotives since 1943 by mentions of the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Dutch resistance station Radio Oranje. Sounds and stories of the machines leaving the factory and even their LMS whistle, not dissimilar to those of ships. The actual sight of these would have to wait until the liberations. At first, these were exclusively operated by British personnel. They got the nicknames 'Dakota', after a jack-of-all-trades airplane of the war, and 'Jeep', which would be changed to 'Kleine Jeep' (Little Jeep) once the NS 5000s came.
NS rented 75 of these in August 1945 and numbered them NS 4401-4475. In October, 25 more were rented. This is where the troubles with numbers began. 76-99 were only 24 spots and the series NS 4500 already existed, so the last was numbered 4400. A month later, the series was expanded with the NS 4301-4399 and the 400-4529. The previous 4500s were renumbered to the 4250 series. The contracts between NS and the War Department under which the locomotives were leased was fairly confusing. Some came with a maintenance contract, others NS had to maintain themselves.
In October of 1944, the Staatsmijnen in Limburg rented four 1'D locomotives themselves. WD 77192-94 & 77197 (SM 61-64) were joined by WD 70825 (SM 60) in 1945. In January of 1946, NS traded the NS 4504, 4509 and 4511 with SM 62-64. The NS locomotives did not have a coupling for steam heating on the back of the tender, the SM locomotives did. However, NS did not put the SM locomotives in the old number slots. Instead, they were given the numbers NS 4530-4532. Only the ex-NS 4511 would be used by the Staatsmijnen as SM 77. The other two returned to the War Department. The other SM 1'D locomotives followed later in 1946.
Post-war
NS also rented some 1'E locomotives, but these were temporarily unavailable, so they traded those for more 4300s. These seven machines were numbered NS 4528/29/33-36 & 4537. At that time NS had 234 of the austerity 1'D locomotives registered. After the last 50 purchased NS 5000s returned from Germany in June, 1946, 50 4300s returned to the UK. These were the NS 4315-24/28/30/32/33/36/37/39/42/44/45/54/57/58/60/62/70/73 & 4374, 4400/11/13/15/16/76-78/82-84 & 4490, 4528/29 & 4537. The 187 locomotives that were still in the Netherlands became NS property throughout 1947.
At the height of their career, the 4300s were stationed at nearly every depot. The first withdrawals happened in 1946 after the 4485 and 4505 were involved in two separate accidents. Another 32 were withdrawn in 1949, which calmed down the withdrawing. Only the 4525 was withdrawn in 1951. The remaining 149 were taken out of service starting in March of 1953. NS 4310 had the honours of being the last steam locomotive to receive a major overhaul in June of 1955.
Post-service usefulness
The parts of these locomotives were used to keep the NS 3700s and Swedish locomotives (NS 4000 & NS 4700) operational. Pumps, smokebox doors, lubricators, injectors and such were given mostly to the 3700s. The Swedish locomotives mostly needed the smokebox doors. 62 of the austerity tenders were altered to replace the worn out 3-axle tenders of the 3700s.
Nine boilers of 4300s were used as stationary boilers at three NS workshops and three (4325,4396, 4508) were used as stationary heating locomotives. When they were done with those jobs, near the end of 1954, they were scrapped.
Some tenders had their superstructure removed and would be used for well over 40 years at Stork in Hengelo to move heavy equipment along the factory terrain.
The post-NS years
The time at the Swedish State Railway
The Statens Järnvägar (SJ) bought two of these machines, the NS 4384 & 4464, in 1953 to see if they would suffice on their railway. NS also put aside the NS 4307/14/49/52 & 4404 for a potential follow-up sale, though this would never happen. In Sweden, the locomotives were classified as the SJ G11 class, numbered 1930-1931 and drastically rebuilt the machines for the cold, Swedish weather. The cab was fully enclosed, the long, Dutch smokestack was cut off and the tenders were cut down from four axles to three.
The two were primarily used in the South-West of Sweden on the Halmstad - Nässjö line until their withdrawal in the 1960s, after which they were kept in strategic reserve until the early 1970s.
Heritage
Volunteers from the British heritage railway Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (K&WVR) managed to purchase SJ 1931 from the Swedish reserve in 1973. Another British heritage railway had negotiations with Sweden to purchase the 1930, but it was accidentally scrapped. This means that, out of the 935 austerity 1'D locomotives, ex-NS 4464 is the sole survivor. Additionally, it is the last and only operational NS mainline steam engine.
In 2007, the K&WVR overhauled the locomotive to resemble the austerity 1'Ds used by British Rail. It was given the number 90733, one higher than the last one British Rail used.
Technical details
The NS 4300s were originally equipped with: the driver's position on the left, a Gresham & Craven steam-powered brake on the locomotive and tender, a vacuum and air brake for the train, two Monitor-injectors; the firebox was secured with a double Ross-mechanism, sanders that only worked on the rear two driving axles and a coupling for steam heating on the back of the tender (though not on all of them).
The boilers of these locomotives were entirely cylindrical, with the boiler appearing bigger than the smokebox. They were the same size internally, but the isolating layer made the boiler appear larger. These boilers had a steam pressure of 15,8 kg/cm², but NS lowered the allowed pressure to 12 kg/cm² in 1944 to make maintenance cheaper.
The austerities, to the dismay of the Dutch, did not have a drop grate. This was no issue with English coal, which burned with leaving very little ash behind, but caused severe difficulties with Dutch coal. Fires had to be cleaned by shoveling the hot slag and embers through the firebox doors with long shovels. The crew, not so lovingly, nicknamed the 4300s "Scheppers" (shovelers) before they got their other nicknames. The lack of a drop grate also caused the fire to lose a majority of its access to oxygen supply after being worked for a long time, which negatively impacted the forming of steam. NS solved this by placing the grid bars further apart, so more air could flow through.
The valve boxes of the injectors were placed on top of the boiler, between the steam dome and smokestack. NS fitted the 4300s with a permanent ladder on the side of the boiler so the crew could more easily access the boxes.
The locomotive crew was greatly hindered by settling smoke, so small smoke deflectors were fitted on the 4482 in 1946 to trial them. The NS 4444 received large smoke deflectors which, just like those found on the NS 3900 and 6300, had semicircle-shaped holes. These trials didn't really work out; NS settled for the easier solution of increasing the length of the smokestack by 55 cm.
NS removed the vacuum-brake on all locomotives they bought. This brake system was only used on a few Dutch goods and tram locomotives.
The cab originally had two open windows and was open at the back. This was greatly uncomfortable for the crew when driving tender-first. This was quickly solved by NS by installing wooden backboards and little doors between the locomotive and tender. Later, the cabs were also fitted with sliding windows and roof ventilation.
The coupling between the locomotives and their tenders was less tight than usual, which resulted in poor running behaviour above 60 km/h. Because of it, the NS 4300s were exclusively put on goods trains in their last years. Additionally, the welded 4-axle tenders had a tendency to derail when driving tender-first.
Austerity modifications
A lot of parts on these locomotives were made out of cast iron instead of cast steel. Only the wheels directly coupled to the cylinders and wheel tyres were steel. The other, coupled wheels were cast iron. The leading wheels and tender wheels were cast steel and casted in a single mold. The balancing of the mechanisms had been kept to a minimum.
The axle bearings were not adjustable. The bearings of the driving gear were grey, cast iron sleeve bearings, but were later replaced with bronze and white metal versions. These bearings gave the austerities a very recognisable rattle that could be heard far and wide, even shortly after revisions.
Trivia
- The NS 4300 is an early level mixed locomotive, with a strong capacity for its price to haul freight, but a slow top speed for passenger runs.
- The War Department gamepass is available for 300R$, and as such the WD livery is available for the same price.
- The lowest price of the locomotive uses the same first two digits as its series, 43.000 and 4300 respectively.
- In version 0.4.28 the WD livery received period correct 'War Lamps', which reduced unnecessary illumination, to reduce attention at night.
- The NS 4300 has been available since the game's launch, version 0.1.
- It received its smoke reflector 'livery' in version 0.1.13, along with its rework.
Doubleheading
Doubleheading compatibility