The acceptance run of the 23 042 was originally scheduled for 18 December 2022.

Motivated by the successful rollout at this year’s steam locomotive festival, the locomotive was carefully heated up in icy temperatures at midday on 16 December. Once the temperature in the boiler had risen by the evening, the locomotive was prepared for the night. On the morning of 17 December, however, came the sobering news: the acceptance run was cancelled for operational reasons. 

What now? 

Letting the fire go out at -10 degrees was out of the question, too risky that components could freeze up. So Saturday was used to have the machine inspected by the expert and to run the units. In the evening, the machine was dismantled again for the night.

On 18 December, the locomotive was slowly heated up again in the morning and all the lines thawed out. After a few runs on the site, a small rest fire was set up again in the evening. The next day, temperatures were forecast to be above zero again, so the locomotive could be left out overnight.

All in all, the process was not very satisfactory. Nevertheless, we are confident that we will soon be able to have the locomotive finally removed. Then it will be able to demonstrate its full power again, as in the following picture from better days.