February 1, 2013

0492 NETHERLANDS (Netherlands / Overijssel) - The Foal from Museum Buurt Spoorweg


In a previous post I wrote about the Museum Buurt Spoorweg (MBS), a railway museum located in Haaksbergen. The locomotive in the picture (named simply Locomotive 2) is also hosted in this museum and was manufactured in 1926 by Société pour l'Exploitation des Etablissements John Cockerill, based in Seraing, in the region of Liege.

The John Cockerill Company was founded by the British industrialist William Cockerill. He retired in 1813 and the company was taken over by his youngest son, John, becoming John Cockerill & Cie. in 1825. After John's death in 1840, the company became state owned, and from 1842 was known as Société anonyme pour l'Exploitation des Etablissements John Cockerill. In 1955 it merged with Ougrée-Marihaye to form SA Cockerill-Ougrée, later merged into Cockerill-Sambre in 1981. The company was one of the major iron and steel producers in western Europe, but also of derived products, including locomotives.

The steam locomotive from the image, with a total length of 4,820m, a weight of 19,950t, and a maximum speed 30 km/h, was used in the past as a shunter at the Zuid Chemie N.V. in Sas van Gent (an enterprise producing fertilizers), and had the nickname The Foal. It's the only steam locomotive in the Netherlands who has a vertical boiler, and the horseshoe-shaped cisterns to its boiler gives it a distinct appearance. The small driving wheels give it great moving force. It came to the MBS in 1969, and in 2003 was out of service due to the expired term boiler. In October 2005 began its overhaul, and on 29 May 2009 it was officially put into service.

About the stamp, one of two of Personal Stamps destination Europe and World, I wrote here.

References
John Cockerill (company) - Wikipedia
Lokomotive 2 van de Museum Buurt Spoorweg (MBS) - De Nederlandse Museummaterieel Database


sender: Annemieke Reinderink (direct swap)
sent from Haarlo (Netherlands), on 16.09.2012
photo: B. Heerink

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