The Finnish Steam Locomotive Class F1 was a class of tank locomotives, which did not have to be turned at terminal stations. The water tank was located below the space behind the cab, in contrast to more modern tank locomotives where the water tanks usually placed either side of or on top of the boiler.
F1 locomotives were used in Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Viipuri for local traffic, which they could easily handle. When the local transport in the early 1900s increased, the F1 locomotives proved no longer sufficiently powerful, and they were replaced by more powerful Vk1/I1 locomotives. They were employed moving lightweight mixed trains short distances, a task for which they were well suited. The F1s were withdrawn in the 1930s. The only surviving F1 is the number 132 at the Finnish Railway Museum, which is painted in the livery that was applied as new.
Class F1, Societe Suisse locomotive No 434 at the Finnish Railway Museum.
builder’s plate of Societe Suisse locomotive No 434 of 1886 at the Finnish Railway Museum.
