3 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Parowóz Pm36 Poznań Główny: Travelarz· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. Piękna Helena Pirat: Radosław Drożdżewski (Zwiadowca21)· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3. Parowóz z otuliną aerodynamiczną serii Pm36: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
PKP class Pm36 is a class of two express passenger (P) 4-6-2 (m) steam locomotives ordered in 1936 for the Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways).
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 89 years ago, in 1937.
- Top speed is 1.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- 1.3 MW is about 16 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 16 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 24.8 m long: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1937
- retired
- 1965
- status
- retired
- number built
- 2
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- builders
- Fablok
- operators
- Polish State Railways, Deutsche Reichsbahn
- top speed
- 140 km/h
- power
- 1.3 MW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-6-2
- length
- 24.8 m
- weight
- 94 t
- nicknames
- Piękna Helena
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q782699, Wikipedia: PKP class Pm36 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.