Palestine Railways P class
The Palestine Railways P class was a type of standard gauge mixed traffic steam locomotive on Palestine Railways and its successor Israel Railways. The PMR introduced the class in 1935 and Israel Railways withdrew the last ones in 1960. Background Palestine Railways was founded in 1920 to operate all railways in the League of Nations Mandate of Palestine. The mainstays of its locomotive fleet were its 50 H class 4-6-0s built by Baldwin in Pennsylvania in 1918, covering most duties on the main line between Haifa in Palestine and El Kantara East on the Suez Canal in Egypt via Lydda, Gaza and El Arish. Its daily Haifa – El Kantara through service was hardly an express, but it included two Wagons-Lits cars and early in the 1930s PR sought a more powerful locomotive to improve its performance. Characteristics In 1935 PR bought six new 4-6-0 tender locomotives from the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, Scotland and designated them class P. These had a tractive effort of : 16% more power than the of class H. Class P also had driving wheels: a mixed-traffic diameter by British standards but larger than those of the H class and therefore more suitable