Höyryveturit

The policy of wide scale dieselisation, followed by the progress of electrification in the 1970s, resulted in the rapid withdrawal of the steam locomotives in service, a task completed by the end of 1975, the intention was then to “moth-ball” a number of the Vr1, Vr2, Vr3, Tk3, Tv1 and Hv3 class engines in addition to the Tr1 and Hr1 classes in their entirety.

At the request of the Ministry of Defence on 13 August 1968, the VR decided on 6 February 1969 to initially place 250 steam engines for outdoor storage at the military depots at Lievestuore, Ohenmäki and Haapajärvi (Vuorten-Vuori). The locomotives were externally treated and protected against the elements and could, in an emergency, be deployed to safeguard the transportation needs of the military forces.

However, on 1 March 1977, the VR decided to reduce the number of locomotives in the strategic reserves to 174, the deciding factor being the electrification programme that had extended beyond that originally proposed. All the Vr2, Vr3, Tv1 and Hv3 class engines were then to be removed from storage for withdrawal and scrapping.

The complete abandonment of the strategic reserves became an issue in the spring of 1984 after the general staff of the armed forces announced that the retention of steam locomotives for military requirements was no longer a military necessity. Here, a decisive factor was the reduction in and general lack of staff with the necessary skills for the operation and maintenance of steam locomotives. A further disadvantage was the removal of locomotive watering and servicing facilities throughout the rail system; the ready availability of road vehicles was also now regarded as sufficient to meet emergency crises. The fate of the steam motive power stock was then entrusted to a special
committee which issued its report in the spring of 1985. On the basis of this, the VR favoured keeping a number of engines at its disposal while seventy-five would be scrapped.

Locomotives removed from the strategic reserves and restored to running condition were: 

• Vr2 965, Ohenmäki, 1973–77. The loco was experimentally coated with a new type of preservative, and hauled to Pieksämäki for inspection a year later. In December 1974, it worked under its own steam to Iisalmi to be restored again.
• Tk3 1150, Lievestuore, 1977. Restored at Pieksämäki in 1978 for film purposes.
• Vr1 795, Lievestuore, 1977–80. Restored at Pieksämäki in 1980 and sold a year later to Nokia Oy. The move involved being hauled from Pieksämäki to Riihimäki, before it ran under its own steam to Båtvik via Pasila.

Four locomotives taken from reserve storage for complete inspection and return to working condition were:

• Tk3 1139, Lievestuore 1970–79. Restored at Pieksämäki, 1979.
• Tr1 1082, Ohenmäki 1976–81. Restored at Kuopio workshops, 1981.
• Hr1 1004, Lievestuore 1970–81. Restored at Kuopio workshops, 1981
• Vr1 669, Lievestuore 1970–81. Restored at Kuopio workshops, 1981. A detail worth mentioning concerns the moving of no. 669 from the end of a storage track. It was decided to experimentally lift the loco from one track to another by means of a newly imported Kirow EDK-1000 (Tnk 6) giant crane. However, this broke down during the lifting and as the crane was still under warranty, it was then necessary to wait for an expert to come from the then GDR.

These four locomotives and Tk3 1150 were used for filming and heritage trains after their restoration.

VR permanent way construction depart-mental locomotives (750mm gauge)

The building of new railways prior to 1922 was the responsibility of a railway construction department under the aegis of the Civil Engineering Administration. The Rakennusosasto (Construction Department), established when the Finnish Railway Administration was reorganised on 1 January 1923, took over the appropriate tasks and most of the railway equipment of the Civil Engineering Administration (TVH). Known as the Rautatierakennusosasto (Railway Construction Department) from 1932, it was amalgamated with the Rataosasto (Permanent Way Department) in 1969.

The Railway Construction Department inherited six 750mm gauge steam locomotives from the Civil Engineering Administration. Evidently, not every locomotive bore a running number as certain engines were only referred to by a boiler or builder’s number in the work reports.

Nos. 1 and 3 0–4–2ST

W.G. Bagnall of England built three 0–4–2STs for the TVH in 1897–98. Two of these engines, nos. 1 and 3, were transferred to the VR retaining their numbers. Under VR ownership no.1 worked on the reconstruction of the Haapamäki–Jyväskylä line between 1923 and 1926. When completed, it was sold to the military in 1926 and thereafter mostly used on the fortified island of Russarö in the Finnish Gulf. No. 3 was employed on the same reconstruction job but was stored at Jyväskylä loco shed after overhaul. When further motive power was required for the construction of the Haapamäki–Pori line in 1933, the permanent way department revealed the existence of a small engine in Jyväskylä that had not seen use since 1926. No. 3 was then purchased by the Construction Department (even though it was in fact already the owner of the loco, had it forgotten its existence?) and after a boiler inspection was furnished with VR boiler plate no. 1102/1911 (documents say that the date was a guess). Later this engine was employed on the following railway construction sites: Varkaus–Viinijärvi (1934–37); Suolahti–Äänekoski (1939–42); Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1942–45); Kaakamo gravel pits near Tornio (1948); Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1948) and finally Äänekoski–Haapajärvi (1950–52). It was transferred to the central storage depot at Vilppula in 1952 and withdrawn in December that year.

These four-coupled engines had plate frames, were equipped with a traction engine type boiler without a steam dome. The saddle tank was also connected with a pipe under the boiler. Fuel was stored at the rear end of the cab; the bunker was enlarged in Finland to provide more room for logs (these 0–4–2STs were delivered as coal burners). The cylinders had slide valves and Baguley valve gear.

Nos. 4 (1), 5 (2) and 7 0–4–2T

Tampella built three Mf (Bb16) type 0–4–2Ts for the Civil Engineering Administration (TVH) in 1914. This numbered them 4, 5 and 7 and the VR retained their original numbers until 1926. In that year nos. 4 and 5 were renumbered 1 and 2. It is an open question whether they ever actually bore a running number as they were only referred to in the work reports by a  builder’s (229, 230 and 233) or by a boiler number (1420, 1422 and 1418 respectively).

No. 4 (1) worked under VR ownership on the following railway construction sites: Turku–Uusikaupunki (1923–26 but in 1929 it was reported to have been in store since 1921); Rovaniemi–Kemijärvi (1930); Varkaus–Viinijärvi (1933–39); Kemijärvi–Salla (c.1943); Äänekoski–Haapajärvi (1946–48); Valmet airplane factory, Tampere (1947–48); Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1949–50); Joensuu–Kovero (1950–51) and Murtomäki–Otanmäki (1952–53). It was then transferred to the Vilppula central storage site and its boiler was sold in March 1953.

No 5 (2) worked under VR ownership on the following railway construction sites: Iisalmi–Ylivieska (1923–26); Oulu–Nurmes (1926–30); Rovaniemi–Kemijärvi (1930); Pori Haapamäki (c.1935); hired to Puukemia Oy, Heinola (1943–45); Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1945–47); Valmet aeroplane factory, Tampere (1947–48); Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1948–51) and Siilinjärvi–Juankoski (1951–54). This list is not complete. It was transferred to the Vilppula central storage site in 1954 later to Hyvinkää, where it was placed in the Railway Museum. 

No. 7 worked under VR ownership on the following railway construction sites: Uuras harbour (1926); Viipuri–Pölläkkälä (1927); Lahti–Heinola (1928–30); Varkaus–Viinijärvi (1930–40); Kemijärvi–Salla (1940–41) and Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1943–52). It was transferred to the Vilppula central storage site in September 1952 and sold in March 1954. 

No. 6 0–4–0T

In 1914 Tampella delivered one further engine, an 0–4–0T of type Na (Ab16), to the TVH, which numbered it 6, a number retained in VR service. Under VR ownership it worked on the following railway construction sites: Iisalmi–Ylivieska (1923–c.1925); Karunki–Tengeliönjoki (c.1925–26); Rovaniemi–Kemijärvi (1930); Pori–Haapamäki (c.1935–36); Kontiomäki–Hyrynsalmi (1939–42); Orivesi–Jämsänkoski (1942–48) and Äänekoski–Haapajärvi (1949–52). This list may not be entirely complete for the years before 1935. Like no. 5, it was transferred to the Vilppula central storage site in February 1952 and sold in March 1954.

War booty locomotives (750mm gauge)

The VR was given four of the narrow gauge steam locomotives captured from the Soviets in 1941. No. 12 had Russian boiler no. 26912, which was changed to 1723 by VR suggesting a construction year of 1917. It is not known whether this was a guess or whether some specific information lay behind the decision. This locomotive (wheel arrangement unknown) was reported to be lacking a tender.

The second captured locomotive was no. 159–235 with Soviet boiler no. 260. The VR changed the boiler number to 3614, suggesting 1936 as the year of construction; this hypothesis is also supported by the boiler repair dates. As the class 159, an 0–8–0 with a 4-wheel tender, was built between 1930 and 1941, this is probably also the construction year of the complete locomotive. 

The third locomotive was a Kolomna-built 0-8-0 numbered 264 but is otherwise unidentified. Before it was sent to Äänekoski, it was used at Svir by the Finnish Army.

The fourth locomotive bore the running number 299 and the boiler no. 26924. The VR renumbered the boiler to 0241 suggesting 1902 was the year of its construction.

All these four locomotives were transported to Äänekoski for the building of the lengthy railway from Suolahti to Haapajärvi. By the time they arrived, the line was already complete from Suolahti to Äänekoski and construction was continued only after the war. Thus they were probably never used in Finland although the boiler of no. 159–235 was inspected at Helsinki and approved on 27 April 1942. All of these locomotives were obviously tender locomotives. They were loaded on wagons and sent from Äänekoski to Imatra on 23–25 January 1945 for return to the USSR.

In addition to these four, an 0–8–0 bearing the number 6281 was sent together with its tender on a wagon from Helsinki to the USSR on 15 January 1945. There is no other record of this locomotive and it may have been only in transit on the VR.

Locomotives owned by Äänekoski Oy pulp mill (750mm gauge)

In 1940 the Suolahti–Äänekoski railway construction site is reported to have used a locomotive owned by Äänekoski Oy. There is no mention which one of the mill’s four steam locomotives it was: it owned two H.K. Porter 0–6–0Ts, one O&K 0–6–0T and a six-coupled O&K fireless.

VR peat production plant locomotives (600mm gauge)

The Konnunsuo prison authorities opened a narrow gauge railway from Läykkä (prison) to Tuomoja (a loading pier on the Saimaa Canal) in 1924. After the VR Lappeenranta–Imatra line was opened in 1934, the narrow gauge line was extended from Tuomoja to Muukko (a small station on the aforementioned line), this was completed in 1936. The total length of the main line was 18km.

In 1940 the Ministry of Transport and Public Works authorised the VR to cut peat at Konnunsuo bog at Joutseno. For this reason the Finnish Railway Administration established a peat production plant that came under the department responsible for storage and supplies. The required bog was leased from the Konnunsuo Prison authorities and the VR began peat production for locomotive fuel on 27 May 1940. Peat litter was also produced from July 1947. Two peat briquette plants were constructed, beginning production in July 1954 and October 1955.  Production at the peat fuel plant was phased out in May 1963.

The 600mm narrow gauge system owned by Konnunsuo Prison also fulfilled the transport requirements of the VR for its peat fuel plant until road transport replaced it on 31 October 1959. The Konnunsuo–Muukko railway was unusual in that both the prison and the peat production plant each used their own locomotives and rolling stock. Steam traction was used for the main running lines whilst internal combustion locomotives shunted trucks over the peat moss. The VR was responsible for permanent way maintenance as a compensation for its right to operate on the line. All operations between Konnunsuo and Muukko line ended on 1 January 1960 but operations on the internal lines on the peat bog continued until the 1980s.

This publication considers the steam locomotives used by the VR.

Wartime conditions prevented the acquisition of new locomotives when the peat fuel production plant was opened so the VR was forced to hire two locomotives from the Civil Engineering Administration (TVH). These locomotives, nos. 7 and 13, had previously been used to assist with the Saimaa Canal expansion project. They were standard
Orenstein & Koppel products, no. 7 a 50hp 0–4–0T and no. 13 a 60hp 0–4–0T, purchased new for the TVH. In 1943 they were rented for military purposes to the Merisuo Railway on the Karelian Isthmus and renumbered 5 and 6. No. 5 was lost when the area was ceded to the Soviet Union while no. 6 (ex-no. 13) was evacuated into the Finnish zone and returned to the peat fuel production plant. After that details on its history are obscure. It was most likely withdrawn from VR service in the early 1950s and returned to the TVH. Th Finnish boiler register says that its boiler was scrapped in 1968.

The VR bought two second-hand steam locomotives from Denmark after the war for this line. The first was a fairly new Henschel 0–4–0T. It became no. 1 but for some reason there are two dates for its entry into traffic: 1946 and 1948. The second arrived and entered service in 1947 and became no. 2 in 1948. A 20hp 0–4–0T from O&K, it was the smallest of all the locomotives operated by the VR on the Konnunsuo–Muukko railway. Nos. 1 and 2 remained in use until the end of VR traffic and were sold for scrap in January 1961.

Loviisa–Vesijärvi Railway (750mm gauge)

The 82km-long narrow gauge railway from Niemi (port of Lahti) to Valko (port of Loviisa) was opened in 1900. Following a sharp deterioration in its finances after 1948 the owning company petitioned for closure. The state did not permit this but did start to provide financial assistance. In April 1956 the main owner, the Rauma-Repola Oy concern, sold its shares to the state and other shareholders gave up their shares without compensation. The state organised a technical survey of the line the same year and in 1957 made a decision to regauge and in few places to realign it. The railway company was disbanded at the end of 1958 and its assets were handed over to the VR. The locomotive stock comprised four steam and three diesel locomotives. Narrow gauge trains continued to run during the widening of the line until it was opened for conditional goods traffic on the broad gauge on 2 May 1960. The railway owned 13 steam locomotives over the years but only the following four were transferred to the VR.

VR LR 6

No. 6 was a superheated 2–8–0 with an eight-wheel bogie tender built by Tampella. During VR ownership, it had piston valves and Walschaerts valve gear. Originally it had had Stephenson valve gear and the running plate was rebuilt because of the conversion. After the cessation of narrow gauge traffic the Museum Committee of Loviisa township bought this engine and plinthed it at Loviisa. In 1982 it was transferred to the Jokioinen Museum Rail-way and their museum at Minkiö (between Forssa and Humppila). Since 1998 it has been in working order and the original Stephenson valve gear retro-fitted.

VR LR 7

No. 7 was an Orenstein & Koppel product from 1921. It was another superheated 2–8–0 with an eight-wheel bogie tender. After 1960 it was plinthed at Lahti for many years but nowadays belongs to the collection of the Jokioinen Museum Railway.

VR LR 9 and 11

Nos. 9 and 11 were also built by Orenstein & Koppel in 1927 and 1928. They were the heaviest locomotives of the railway being superheated 2–8–2s with Walschaerts valve gear and piston valves. Their overall length limited by the turntables, these two locomotives had only six-wheel tenders, with a four-wheel bogie in front and a single fixed axle at the rear. Both locomotives were scrapped after the end of the narrow gauge services.

Other locomotives (750mm gauge)

The VR purchased seven 750mm diesel and two steam locomotives from the German Army in 1944. It is not known whether the steam locomotives came from the 178km-long 750mm gauge Hyrynsalmi–Kuusamo field railway or from one of the German stores between Oulu and Tornio. Initially, the VR had no work for these locomotives and
they were stored at Kivimäki gravel pit south of Kajaani. It is possible that this was an attempt to keep locomotives in Finland (all German property was required to be handed over to the USSR). However, in the end VR had to give in. The decision to hand them over to the USSR was made in December 1944. On 19 January 1945 they were loaded on two eight-wheel Ok wagons and sent to Imatra, arriving there on the 21st for immediate transfer to the Soviet authorities. 

These locomotives were of type HF 110 C (Heeresfeldbahn, 110hp, C = six-coupled wheels), of which Henschel erected 56 and other manufacturers 49. These 0–6–0T+Ts were built as 600mm/750mm gauge convertibles but both the VR and the Kuusamo field railway documents list all HF 110 Cs (and other types) as 750mm gauge. Fuel and water tanks were to be found both on the locomotives and on the four-wheel tender. They used saturated steam but otherwise gave a very modern impression. They had Walschaerts valve gear and Müller pressure equalising piston valves; other details included electric lights, a mechanical hand brake and steam brakes.

The Russo–Finnish Winter War began on 30 November 1939 and ceased on 13 March 1940, after which the Moscow Peace Treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union came into force. This armistice brought 105 days of hostilities to an end but forced Finland to surrender the following territory to the Soviet Union: the Karelian Isthmus, the Karelian Lake Ladoga region, part of South Karelia, the Salla–Kuusamo region, the Kalastaja and Sredni peninsulas near Petsamo, as well as the islands of Suursaari, Tytärsaaret, Lavansaari and Seiskari in the Gulf of Finland. Finland also had to lease the Hanko peninsula as a military base for a thirty-year period. The areas ceded had 972km of railways and included the large marshaling yard at Viipuri and Viipuri workshops.

The USSR did not conquer all of the surrendered territory as towns such as Viipuri, Sortavala and Käkisalmi were still under Finnish military control at the end of hostilities. During the course of the peace negotiations, the Soviet regime emphasised that it would show great magnanimity by relinquishing its war reparation demands if Finland for its part was prepared to surrender property it had confiscated and to replace anything it had destroyed. 

Items claimed as reparations included railway stock based at the Elisenvaara and Sortavala loco sheds. 76 locomotives, 120 carriages and 1,868 wagons were requested. Class H2 no. 294, which was abandoned at Uuksu (in surrendered territory) was counted as one, leaving another 75 to be relinquished to the Soviets. These locomotives and other rolling stock were handed over at Enso (near Imatra), a process that began on 15 July 1940 with G10 class nos. 350 and 352 together with 50 wagons. The last locomotive, K5 no. 891, was surrendered on 7 September 1940.