Scandinavian Pacific-2

Because of the geography of Denmark, the Danish State Railways were operated as two distinct systems, physically separated but connected by a train ferry service across the Great Belt between Jutland and Zealand, the island on which Copenhagen is situated.

There were many similarities between the locomotives of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and we show here an engine which illustrates this very well.

No. 964 was the first of thirty-six Class ' E' 4-cylinder compound Pacifies of the Danish State Railways; until 1937 she was No. 1200 of the Swedish State Railways Class ' P.' Designed and built by Nydquist and Holm in 1914, eleven of these big Pacifies were in use on the main lines out of Stockholm, until in 1937 when they were sold to Denmark for express passenger service on the island of Zealand.

Twenty-five further engines of the same design were built between 1942 and 1950 by Frichs of Aarhus, for similar duties in Jutland.

With their 6 ft. 3 in. wheels, the Class ' E ' Pacifics were the principal Danish express locomotives for many years, being fast and economical. Like many other 4-cylinder machines they were rather heavy on maintenance and they were eventually displaced by the new ' My ' class 1,750 hp diesels.

Like most other Danish State locomotives, they carried a distinctive chimney band in the national colors of red-white-red, a practice dating back a hundred years.