This strange machine must be a prime candidate for the title of "Ugliest Locomotive". It is not exactly obvious, but No 1452 was a cabforward design.
The rectangular water tanks are at the rear, on either side of the smokebox. The unusual boiler had a figure-of-8 section, the top cylinder being 0.7m in diameter and the bottom 1.05m.
In May 1880 the Minister of the Interior granted Belpaire a patent for "A light locomotive of special construction". It was built at the arsenal at Malines in the same year.
This was the last single-driver locomotive built for the Belgian State.
Wheel configuration: 1A1 (2-2-2)
Driver diam: 1.30 m
Safety valves: Ramsbottom.