Indian locomotive class YP

Indian locomotive class YP
No. 2511 on display at the Railway Museum, Mysore.
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works North British Locomotive Company Krauss-Maffei Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Build date 1949-1970 Total produced 871
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 4-6-2  • UIC 2'C1' Gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) Coupled dia. 1,372 mm (4 ft 6.0 in) Wheelbase: ​  • incl. tender 16,333 mm (53 ft 7.0 in) Length: ​  • Over buffers 19,088 mm (62 ft 7.5 in) Width 2,590 mm (8 ft 6 in) Height 3,430 mm (11 ft 3 in) Axle load 10.5 t (10.3 long tons; 11.6 short tons) Service weight 99 t (97 long tons; 109 short tons) Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 9.8 t (9.6 long tons; 10.8 short tons) Water cap. 3,000 US gal (11,000 L; 2,500 imp gal) Firebox: ​  • Grate area 2.6 m^2 (28 sq ft) Boiler pressure 14.4 bar (209 psi) Heating surface: ​  • Tubes and flues 134 m^2 (1,440 sq ft)  • Total surface 103.35 m^2 (1,112.5 sq ft) Superheater: ​  • Heating area 30.75 m^2 (331.0 sq ft) Cylinders Two, outside Cylinder size 609 mm (24.0 in) Valve gear Walschaerts
Performance figures Tractive effort: ​  • Starting 82 kN (18,000 lbf)
Career Operators Indian Railways Numbers See table

The Indian locomotive class YP are a class of 4-6-2 passenger locomotives built for Indian Railways' metre gauge network as one of several post-partition standard designs evolved from the pre-war Indian Railway Standard designs.[1]

History

A total of 871 locomotives were built between 1949 and 1970 by various manufacturers. They were among the most commonly used steam locomotives in the country and one of the last built specifically for passenger service in the world. Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered the first batch of 20 locomotives in 1949, followed by another 100 by the North British Locomotive Company, and Krauss-Maffei supplied a further 200 locomotives between 1952 and 1954. The remaining 551 were domestically built by Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. between 1954 and 1970.[1][2]

Until the 1990s, YP class were in service on India's metre-gauge network in large numbers, especially, in the states of Rajasthan, Assam and Tamil Nadu.[1]

Several examples have been preserved and are now on display in various Indian railway museums. Numbers 2257 and 2684 were sold in 1990 to American-owned Railroad Development Corporation and were seen in Togo as of 2007^[update].[3]

Table of builders and numbers

Year	Quantity	Builder	Serial number	Running number
1949	20	Baldwin Locomotive Works	74454–74473	2000–2870 (not in order)
1952	100	North British Locomotive Company	27120–27219
1952–1954	200	Krauss-Maffei	17732–17781, 17991–18140
1954–1970	551	Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co.	51–150, 201–290, 761–830, 845–935, 956–1155

Design

The YP class were essentially a metre-gauge version of the broad-gauge WP class, but they lacked the distinctive bullet-nose smokebox casing seen on the latter. In addition, the YPs had the latest technical features present in a steam locomotive at the time, such as a steel firebox, combustion chambers, and large-area superheater.[4]

Since the locomotives were intended for use on routes with relatively low axle loads, they had to be as light as possible. For this reason, the side panels^[clarify] and cab were made of aluminum as a weight-saving measure.[1]

Allocation

The YP class locomotives were used all over India. By the end of 1976, the locomotives were allocated to the following regional zones of Indian Railways:[5]

Zone	Quantity
Central Railways	9
Northern Railways	101
North Eastern Railways	235
Northern Frontier Railway	98
Western Railways	155
South Central Railways	72
Southern Railways	199

Two locomotives of this class had been withdrawn at the time.

References

1. Information sheet for the YP class. Madrid: Ediciones del Prado. 2005. p. 2.
2. Hughes 1977, p. 24.
3. "Benin Tourist Railway Project". Retrieved 2022-07-05.
4. "YP 4-6-2". sundar.altervista.org. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
5. Hughes 1977, p. 96.

• Hughes, Hugh (1977). Steam Locomotives in India, Part 2 - Meter Gauge. The Continental Railway Circle. ISBN 0-9503469-3-4.

Further reading

• Brian Hollingsworth: Dampflokomotiven: Ein technisches Handbuch der bedeutendsten internationalen Personenzuglokomotiven von 1820 bis heute. Springer-Verlag, 1983, ISBN 978-3-7643-1530-6, YP class on p. 192

External links

• Technical diagrams on the Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA) website