The IV e was developed for passenger and express trains in order to supplement or replace the older, predominantly four-coupled locomotives in this role. It was all about the steep Black Forest Railway, where the existing locomotives could no longer cope with the increasing number of passengers. Thus, from 1894, Grafenstaden from Alsace supplied six-coupled engines with four-cylinder compound engines. They were the first locomotives with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement in Germany, and they were also the first to use a de Glehn type engine on a locomotive with three coupled axles, i.e. with drive on two axles.

The running gear was built on an inside plate frame, while the bogie was designed with the outside frame known from Grafenstaden, despite the problematic running characteristics. The special feature of this engine rarely used in Germany was that the high-pressure cylinders were on the outside and the low-pressure cylinders on the inside, although the latter had a larger diameter. In order to achieve sufficient traction, the coupling wheels had a diameter of just 1,600 mm, which limited the speed to 90 km/h. During test runs, power of around 800 hp was measured and a 250-tonne train could be transported on the flat at 75 km/h.

Production comprised a total of 83 units up to 1901, which were also supplied by MBG Karlsruhe. Shortly after the turn of the century, the more powerful engines of classes II d and IV f pushed the IV e out of express service, and as a result it was only used in front of regular passenger trains. With the beginning of the First World War, decommissioning began, so that the Reichsbahn was able to take over 35 more units in 1925 and classify them as the class 38⁷⁰. The last were retired in 1932. Today, none of the locomotives remain, as the only existing one kept as a cutaway model in a museum burned down with the museum during World War II.

The class C V machines were the first express locomotives in Europe to have a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. They went back to a design that Maffei had created on its own account and presented in 1896 at the Bavarian State Exhibition. The original design was intended for both passenger and freight trains and therefore had coupled wheels with a diameter of only 1,640 mm. The Bavarian State Railways bought this locomotive and put it into service as a test. It was finally decided to purchase it as a pure express locomotive with a coupled wheel diameter of 1,870 mm and only in a reinforced version. However, the increase in the size of the wheels was accompanied by a reduction in the tractive effort, so that in normal operation the maximum speed of 90 km/h could only be used with trains of a maximum of 160 tonnes.

At the request of Anton Hammel, director of Maffei, a bar frame that was still rarely found in Germany was used. While the trend in the north of the country was back towards two-cylinder locomotives with single steam expansion, Hammel ushered in the era of express train locomotives with four-cylinder compound engines in southern Germany with the C V. The thinking prevailed here that the disadvantages of the more maintenance-intensive inner cylinders and cranked axles are more than compensated for by the lower consumption.

Between 1899 and 1901, 42 examples were built, which were pushed into lower-level services by new locomotives from 1903 onwards. They remained in service longer in their new working area, but after the First World War a relatively large proportion of 17 locomotives had to be handed over to France as reparations. The remaining locomotives were taken over by the Reichsbahn and became the class 17³. This showed that they were still classified as express locomotives. They were retired by 1930.

In addition to the S 2/5, the S 3/5 was procured as an express locomotive with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. Both were technically very closely related, but the S 3/5 with its three coupled axles was intended more for heavy express trains and routes with gradients of one percent. Both locomotives were almost identical in terms of boiler and engine, which resulted in roughly the same power output. In the first locomotives delivered, the boiler pressure was 14 bars, but it was increased to 16 bars from the following year and thus reached the same value as its sister, which was only manufactured from 1904.

Both locomotives are characterized by the use of a bar frame. On the S 3/5, the diameter of the coupling wheels was 130 mm smaller, resulting in a slightly lower boiler. The result of this different design was that the locomotive developed a higher adhesive weight and greater tractive effort, but was somewhat less suitable for sustained running at the top speed range.

In 1906, a test locomotive was fitted with a superheater and the diameter of the cylinders was increased slightly. This measure enabled the power to be increased by around 170 hp, which meant that trains weighing up to 450 tonnes could be pulled at 100 km/h instead of just 300 tonnes at the same speed as before. Based on this experience, production was switched over in 1907 and only the superheated variant was built. The latter was designated the S 3/5 H, while the original variant later became the S 3/5 N. As a result, between 1903 and 1911, a total of 39 saturated engines and 30 superheated ones were manufactured.

Schematic drawing with dimensions

Die Lokomotive, October 1904

After some machines had to be handed over after the First World War, the Reichsbahn took on 20 saturated engines as class 17⁴ and 24 superheated engines as class 17⁵. Since the newer S 3/6 was very expensive to purchase, the machines from the older series were also completely converted to superheated steam in the years that followed. Despite these conversions, this variant began to be phased out as early as 1932. After the war, all the remaining locomotives were on Bavarian territory, but they were all badly worn and were therefore completely phased out by 1948.

The P 3/5 H was a passenger locomotive that was ordered by the Bavarian Group Administration shortly after the Reichsbahn was founded. Since there was no final class scheme at that time, the locomotives were given a Bavarian designation for the time being. In 1925 they became the class 38⁴, the 80 examples built were numbered 38 401 to 38 480.

The basis of the development was the P 3/5 N, which already had a four-cylinder compound engine, but was only designed to use saturated steam. The chassis was adopted almost unchanged, but slightly larger cylinders and a larger boiler with a superheater were installed. In addition, there was a more spacious cab, as was the state of the art at this time. Despite the same top speed, the power and economy increased, and a larger tender also further increased the range. So it turned out that these locomotives, which were actually only developed for normal passenger trains, were even used in front of express trains. From 1924 all surviving P 3/5 N were rebuilt to a superheated P 3/5 H.

Schematic drawing with dimensions

Die Lokomotive, September 1910

Like their predecessors from Bavaria, all P 3/5 H received a green paint finish ex works. Although the repainting took place in 1925, not all locomotives could be repainted directly to the new color scheme. It was not until around 1930 that some were given the new black and red color scheme as part of a general inspection. Fortunately, all of the P 3/5 H survived the Second World War. After the end of the war, they were all on the territory of what later became the Bundesbahn, as they were mainly used in the Bavarian area. The rest of their life their working area didn't change either. The 38 432 was the last to be retired in 1955.

When developing a class 5 standard locomotive for mixed service, a Pacific locomotive first came up for discussion. However, since this was considered too expensive, the choice fell on the wheel arrangement 4-6-0. This offered the additional advantage that, for a given total weight, a larger proportion was accounted for by the adhesive weight. The basis for the development was Stanier's LMS Class 5, which had proven itself in all areas of application and was still in production at the time.

The improvements still to be made to this mainly concerned the production and operating costs, which were to be reduced through the use of standardized assemblies and the simplest possible maintenance. A self-cleaning smoke box and a shaking grate for emptying the ash under the firebox were installed for faster turnaround after the end of the shift. The cab was standardized with many similarities to the other standard classes. Some pipes in the cab have been moved to the outside for easier access and cheaper production. The boiler had almost the same dimensions as the Black Five, but was made of manganese steel instead of nickel. In addition, the drivers were increased by two inches and the cylinder diameter by half an inch.

The production of the standard locomotive followed the production of the Black Five almost seamlessly. Between April 1951 and January 1952 only 30 were initially built in the workshops in Derby. A further 100 were later built at Derby and 42 at Doncaster, with the last being delivered in June and May 1957 respectively. The locomotives were used in many regions and were just as versatile as their predecessors. It is reported to have been more economical at higher speeds than the Black Five and the drivers would have credited it with a top speed of just under 100mph.

Variants with a double blast pipe and a 2-8-0 goods variant were proposed, but these were not implemented. This was mainly due to British Railways' modernization plans from 1955, which prepared the phase-out of steam traction. The locomotives were retired between 1964 and 1968 and today there are five of which two were still operational at the beginning of 2022.

Beginning in 1907, the Buenos Aires Great Southern received a series of Ten-Wheelers with different cylinder configurations from British manufacturers. The first was the class 12A with a two-cylinder compound engine, which was built a total of 32 times by Beyer, Peacock and North British and was later converted to simple expansion and superheated. Also in 1907, nine class 12B locomotives were built by the Vulcan Foundry, using four cylinder compound engines, three of which were superheated in 1924. In 1914 Beyer, Peacock built 20 class 12D locomotives, which had a simple two-cylinder engine and a superheater. 

The class D10 referred to a series of ten-wheelers of the Canadian Pacific, which, with a total number of 507, were widely used throughout Canada. They were simple in construction and easy to maintain, but had a larger boiler than ten-wheelers of the 19th century and a superheater. The first locomotives were built as camelbacks, but were rebuilt after about two years. Unlike most locomotives in Canada, they did not have a completely enclosed cab.

No. 784 in its original form as Camelback

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, January 1906

There were the subclasses D10a to D10k, which also showed differences within a subclass. Basically they all used the same firebox, but different numbers of tubes and different superheaters. The driver diameter was 63 inches and the stroke of the cylinders was always 28 inches. For cylinder diameter and boiler pressure, either the combination of 22.5 inches and 180 psi or smaller cylinders with 21 inches and a boiler pressure increased to 200 psi were used. By installing arch tubes in the firebox, its heating surface later increased. The retirements took place between 1938 and 1965.

In order to expand the capacity for hauling heavy passenger trains in the western and central parts of the Cape Colony, H.M. Beatty developed the first Class 6 locomotives to the specifications of Superintendent Michael Stephens. With a driver diameter of 54 inches, they were quite suitable for faster trains for the proportions of cape-gauge locomotives of the 1890s. The 40 examples were supplied by Dübs in Glasgow and introduced a new three-axle tender carrying 5 and a half tons of coal and 2,846 gallons of water.

The locomotives fully met the expectations placed on them and proved to be extremely inexpensive to maintain. In 1897, ten units were sold to the Oranje Free State Railways and operated there as Class 6-L. When the Orange Free State fell to British troops after the Second Boer War, they came to the Central South African Railways as Class 6-L1s. Their manager even suggested using the locomotives to set up a 48-hour connection for the 870 mile route from Cape Town to Johannesburg.

With the formation of the South African Railways they continued to be listed simply as Class 6 because they were the first of their kind. As the Class 6 was gradually replaced by more powerful locomotives in the role of fast passenger trains, it developed a reputation as the „jack of all trades”. They were to be found in front of almost all types of trains for several decades, and seven were even delivered to Sudan during World War II. The last examples were not retired until 1973, when they had been in service for 79 and 80 years respectively. Three examples remain today, one of which is operational and used intermittently by Rovos Rail to power the Pride of Africa luxury train.

In order to increase the power of the ten-wheelers for freight train use, the R-1 was developed on the basis of the R class. The biggest limitation of the R was the firebox, which was located between the frames and could not be enlarged any further.

Therefore, the R-1 received a shallower but wider firebox that stood on the frame. This allowed their width to be increased from 40 to 64 inches. Its walls were corrugated to reduce expansion cracks and increase maintenance intervals. Other changes included increasing the cylinder diameter from 20 to 21 inches, a boiler pressure of 200 instead of 190 psi, and piston instead of slide valves.

No. 444 in the year 2012

Andrew Filer

Between 1901 and 1908 240 locomotives were built by ALCO in Schenectady and 85 by Baldwin. In the beginning, all locomotives had an inside Stephenson valve gear, but in the final series from 1907, an outside Heusinger valve gear was used.

At least 87 locomotives were later fitted with oil firing. 299 units were superheated around 1926. The heating surface of the firebox was once again significantly enlarged by installing arch pipes and thermosiphons. 

As more powerful locomotives became available, the R-1 was progressively pushed out of main line freight service on branch lines. The first larger numbers were phased out from 1939 and by 1957 the last one had disappeared. Three pieces are still preserved today, two of which are being restored.