At the start of the 1870s the RSR needed some new shunting engines. Chief Engineer Marek Luršimonš ordered forty of these sprightly little 0-6-0Ts from Sharp Stewart in 1874. It was thus possible to replace a varied collection of superannuated passenger engines with one class of identical machines, lowering both running and maintenance costs.  One of these locomotives, no. 383, was involved in the Krimpa double collision of 1892, in which its boiler was separated from its frame and exploded with great force, luckily without loss of life. The engine was repaired and back at work within three weeks, a testament to the class's general robustness. Like many similar classes all over the world, a number of the Ns lasted long enough to be rebuilt in three ways by their designer's successor, to become the class C2A 2-6-0s and C2B 4-6-0s. The former continued to potter up and down the branch lines well into the present century, the last three disappearing from Nadver in 1936.

Text and graphics © Norman Clubb 2012