VR Group, commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. With 7,500 employees and net sales of €1.251 million in 2017, VR is one of the most significant operators in the Finnish public transport market area.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles and no trailing wheels. In the United Kingdom, this type is known as a Decapod, a name which is applied to 2-10-0 types in the United States.
The Finnish Railway Museum is located in Hyvinkää, Finland. It was founded in 1898 and located in Helsinki. The museum was moved to Hyvinkää in 1974.
The N class was a branch line steam locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1925 to 1966. A development of the successful K class 2-8-0, it was the first VR locomotive class designed for possible conversion from 5 ft 3 in to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge.
The Sr2 is a class of electric locomotives of the VR Group. They were built by SLM/ABB and later by Adtranz and finally Bombardier Transportation and assembled by Transtech Oy. They are closely based on the class Re 460 locomotives of Swiss Federal Railways.
The VR Class Hr11 was the first class of line-haul diesel locomotives used by Valtionrautatiet. Only five units were built, all delivered by Valmet in 1955. The Maybach diesel engines used in the locomotives proved highly unreliable, resulting in a complete overhaul of the engine-transmission system in 1956–58, but this did not solve all of the reliability problems. The Hr11 series was withdrawn from service in 1972.
Hr1 class was the largest passenger express steam locomotive built in Finland. Twenty-two were built between the years 1937–1957. They were numbered 1000–1021.
The Finnish VR Class Tk3 was a 2-8-0 light freight locomotive. It was the most numerous steam locomotive class in Finland with 161 built. 100 locomotives were constructed between 1927 and 1930, with a further 61 ordered and constructed 1943–53. They were numbered 800–899, 1100–1118, and 1129–1170.
VR Class Pr1 was a tank steam locomotive for local passenger services of Finnish railways.
The Finnish Hv1 class was a 4-6-0 express passenger train locomotive. 42 were built between 1915 and 1921. They were numbered 545–578 and 648–655.
Before 1942 VR Class Vr1s originally had the class name was L1. The Vr1 was a powerful and effective locomotive. Part of them were built by Tampella and part by Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG of Germany. They were numbered 530–544, 656–670, 787–799 and were nicknamed “Kana” ("Hen"). They were operation from 1913-1974.
The VR Class Tr1 is a class of heavy freight locomotive built in Finland and Germany. Before 1942 VR Class Tr1s originally had the class name R1. They were nicknamed “Risto”, after the Finnish President Risto Ryti. They were numbered 1030–1096.
The locomotive that came to form VR Class Vk4 was originally one of a pair of 0-4-0T locomotives ordered from Rheinmetall Borsig Lokomotiv Werke (AEG), Germany to work at Ino fortress at Terijoki on the Karelian Isthmus. The locomotives had 2 axles, they were the wet-steam type, and used a slip-Walschaert valve gear. Production numbers and years were 7268/1909 and 7858/1910. The fortress was in Finnish hands when Finland became independent.
The Finnish VR Class Pr2, nicknamed "Henschel", was a passenger tank class ordered from the Henschel & Son locomotive workshops by the Estonia State Railways in the spring 1939 and completed in 1941. The outbreak of the Second World War prevented their delivery to Estonia, but at least a few of these engines did manage to operate in Latvia in 1942. These engines became superfluous, because the Germans were converting the Baltic tracks to standard gauge, and so Finland could purchase these four engines. They were classified Pr2 and numbered 1800–1803 after their arrival in December 1942. The Pr2 tank engines were quite advanced locomotives, based on the Henschel Class 62 tank engine design of 1928. After their initial problems were solved, they proved to be fast runners and an ideal addition to the motive power roster. They were originally built by as oil-burners, and reverted to this type of fuel between 1947 and 1954 when oil prices were low. The Pr2 was very fast with its 1,830 mm wheel diameter. One of the Pr2 engines achieved 144 km/h during a test trial run. No. 1803, the final Pr2 in service, was withdrawn in May 1960. Only No. 1800 has been preserved at Haapamäki.
VR Class Tve2 was a VR Group diesel shunting locomotive. They were ordered from the Saalasti Oy engineering company and built between 1962–64. Locomotives was sent to the Turenki sugar factory. A total of 8 units. The manufacturer's designation for the model was OTSO2 and OTSO2/VR.
The Finnish Steam Locomotive Class A5 was a class of two locomotives, being the first class of locomotive manufactured in Finland. These first Finnish locomotives were production experiments, which allowed the State Railways to investigate the construction methods of locomotives. The State Railways locomotives ordered the construction of a workshop in Helsinki in 1868, at the same time 10 passenger locomotives were ordered from Great Britain for the St. Petersburg railway line. As a result, the locomotives produced in the Helsinki workshop were similar to those produced in Great Britain.
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.
The VR Class Sk1, originally known as the Finnish Steam Locomotive Classes G1, G2 & G4, were a series of 60 2-6-0 locomotives built for the Finnish State Railways by Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works in 1885. Two are preserved, one at, at the Finnish Railway Museum, and the other at Hyvinkää.
The VR Class Vk3 was originally called the Finnish Steam Locomotive Class I3. The Finnish State Railways ordered three similar classes of locomotives; The American-built Baldwin Class I1s, and the Class I2s and Class I3s, built at Tampella. All were tank locomotives, which did not have to be turned at terminal stations and could run in both directions at the same speed.
