At the Baden State Railways, class VIII referred to eight-coupled freight locomotives. When the VIII a and VIII b no longer met current requirements, the VIII e was developed. It also had four coupled wheel sets, but the weight and thus the power could be increased by adding a leading axle. They were the first freight locomotives in Germany with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement and a bar frame. The design came from Maffei in Munich, but only the first five of the 70 engines from a total of eight batches were manufactured there. The rest were built by the local mechanical engineering company in Karlsruhe.

Austrian engineer Karl Gölsdorf was consulted to improve the running characteristics in curves, so the second and fourth driving wheel sets were installed so that they could be moved sideways by 25 mm. The leading axle was an Adams axle that could be deflected by 65 mm. One of the features of these locomotives was the very high boiler, the center of which was 2,790 mm above the top of the rails. Due to the low height of the bar frame, there was a large gap between the boiler and the frame. This also made it possible to arrange the firebox above the driving wheels and thus to dimension them generously.

Since the locomotives were intended for longer distances without many intermediate stops, a four-cylinder compound engine was installed. The first five batches were still fitted with a Clench steam dryer. All others were equipped with a smoke tube superheater, while the steam dryer was later removed from the first batch and these were thus made into saturated locomotives.

Schematic drawing

Die Lokomotive, August 1925

The maximum speed of 65 km/h could be reached on the flat with trains of up to 700 tonnes, while a maximum train weight of 1,840 tonnes was possible at 45 km/h. 68 of the 70 locomotives were taken over by the Reichsbahn and classified as class 56⁷. Their service life ended in 1931, since steam locomotives with a 2-10-0 wheel arrangement were now required for the heavy freight trains and these were also procured as standard locomotives.

The largest class of Consolidations built for the Baltimore & Ohio was the E-27. The intended area of service were heavy freight trains on both flat and mountainous routes. In order to keep the strain on the locomotive and tracks low, a driver diameter was chosen that was larger than on previous consolidations and at the same time a long cylinder stroke of 30 inches with a comparatively small diameter.

205 of the original E-27 were built in 1905 and 1906 at the ALCO plants in Schenectady and Richmond. The E-27b only followed in 1909 and was largely the same. Changes only affected the Walschaert valve gear and two-inch larger wheels. After 84 E-27b had been built, 120 more followed, which had a larger number of thinner diameter tubes in the boiler and were given the same designation.

When being superheated, different variants were created, which were given different class names. The differences here lay in the superheater, the cylinder dimensions and the valve gear. A total of 116 E-27 were rebuilt into class L-2 0-8-0 switchers. The last E-27 were retired in 1959.

The G 4/5 H was a freight locomotive with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement, which Maffei developed on the basis of the G 4/5 N, which was manufactured in smaller numbers. With its complex engine, it achieved the highest power of all German locomotives with this wheel arrangement. While the predecessor still had a two-cylinder saturated engine, the G 4/5 H was a superheated locomotive with four cylinders in compound design. This design was not very widespread among freight locomotives in Germany, but it increased the power compared to comparable models. This meant that 995 tonnes could be transported at 40 km/h on a gradient of 0.5 percent, as well as 535 tonnes at 1.4 percent at 30 km/h.

A very similar locomotive had already been delivered to the Baden State Railways as the VIII e a few years earlier. In contrast to this, all cylinders on the G 4/5 H acted on the second coupled axle. As with the VIII e, the use of a bar frame proved to be advantageous for maintenance, as this had a lower installation height than a plate frame of the same strength and thus facilitated access to the inner high-pressure cylinders. The leading axle was designed as an Adams axle, since other designs with a drawbar would have robbed the engine of the space.

Maffei produced 210 engines between 1915 and 1919, another 20 came from Krauss. Of these, ten went to the Military General Directorate in Brussels and 25 were ordered directly for use in the war. After the end of the war, 48 locomotives were given to France as reparations and 13 more to Belgium.

The Reichsbahn took over all remaining locomotives and numbered them as class 56^8-11. Despite their good performance, the locomotives were taken out of service as early as 1933, which in retrospect is partly due to the aversion of Richard Paul Wagner, head of the design department, to compound locomotives. Some of the other 2-8-0 freight locomotives with conventional engines survived considerably longer, despite being fewer in number. For the same reason, the Reichsbahn did not procure any new locomotives with compound engines, except for test purposes. After the war, depending on the source, there were still two or three vehicles, but they were withdrawn and scrapped in 1947. As a result, no G 4/5 H entered service with either of the two new German railway companies.

After several locomotives had been built in smaller numbers for the narrow-gauge lines in Austria-Hungary, the breakthrough as a standard locomotive was achieved with the IVa5. It was built as a tender locomotive with a 0-8-2 wheel arrangement, initially with a compound engine and later as a superheated simple engine. They are technically related to the Mh/Mv of the NÖLB. Some were built for the meter gauge for use in Hungary.

83-159 of the Banovići coal railway in June 2016 in Oskova

Friedrich Böhringer

Even after the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, production continued for the railways of the SHS state and Yugoslavia. A total of 185 had been built by 1949, of which 169 were still in use in 1965. Even today, some are still in use on museum railways, including the Austrian Club 760. Two are used on the Banovići coal railway today, as they are more powerful in shunting than the existing diesel locomotives.

Parallel to the K-6 with a two-cylinder compound engine, the Boston & Maine had ALCO in Schenectady build 34 class K-5a and b locomotives with a simple engine. They still had the Stephenson controls but piston valves. According to “Railway and Locomotive Engineering”, the dimensions of the heating surfaces were very well matched to the size of the cylinders. The locomotives later designated as K-5d were actually K-7s with superheaters. 

In 1909 H.H. Vaughan would produce a Consolidation that should achieve more power with 24x32 inch cylinders, but thanks to 63 inch (1,600 mm) large driving wheels should have enough steam even at higher speeds. However, during the trial runs it became apparent that the boiler was still insufficient at higher speeds. This resulted in the production engines with a cylinder diameter of just 23.5 inches.

In the years 1909 to 1911 the production engines of the class N3a were built, in 1912 more of the class N3b and in 1913 finally the class N3c. Technically, the subclasses were almost identical, but they differed in the driver's cab. The N3b and N3c used all-weather driver's cabs, which were characterized by an additional vestibule.

Since the capacity of the boiler later still proved to be too low compared to the cylinders, the conversion to class N2a to c took place in the 1920s. The diameter of the cylinders was reduced to 23 inches and the area of the firebox increased at the expense of the tube heating area. A larger superheater was also used.

There were two different versions of the N2, which had different boilers with 141 and 165 tubes respectively. 40 locomotives were converted to oil firing by 1950. As early as 1946, 65 units were converted to the P1n class with the 2-8-2 wheel arrangement. Four remain today, of which 3512 has been lying at the bottom of Slocan Lake in British Columbia since 1947 after a barge carrying the locomotive capsized.

The ten class I-5 Consolidations were delivered by ALCO-Brooks in 1903. For burning anthracite culm they were given a Wootten firebox with an 82 square foot grate and Camelback design. In the 1920s, all were superheated, with one locomotive keeping the cylinder diameter of 20 inches and the remaining getting 21 inch diameter cylinders. The former were designated I-5s while the rest became I-6s. The tender capacity was increased by a ton by installing boards. The last four members of the class remained in service until 1947.

The locomotives later grouped together in the class E-1 were a total of ten Camelback consolidations that the Delaware & Hudson procured in 1898 and 1899 for burning loose anthracite coal. Three were created by rebuilding a 4-4-0 and two 2-6-0. Seven others were newly built by Dickson and initially designated class U-II before becoming class E-1a.

The Wootten firebox already created a grate area of 80.3 square feet. In addition to the direct radiant area of 170 square feet, it contained a further 104 square feet in so-called “water bars”. One example of the class was built as a compound locomotive with comparatively large cylinders with a diameter of 23 and 34 inches. It was later simpled and scrapped along with its E-1 and E-1a class sisters between 1927 and 1928.

Between 1924 and 1930, the Delaware & Hudson had three high-pressure locomotives with a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement built by ALCO-Schenectady. What they all had in common was the Mühlfeld boiler, which had a large water tube firebox. At the front there were two large drums that lay on top of the boiler barrel. All three locomotives were two-cylinder compounds with a two-axle booster on the tender.

The first was number 1400 named “Horatio Allen”, built in 1924. It had a boiler pressure of 350 psi (24.1 bars). In 1927, No. 1401 “John B. Jervis” was built, which had a boiler pressure of 400 psi (27.6 bars) and smaller cylinders. The boiler was later fully enclosed. In 1930 the No. 1402 “James Archibald” finally followed with a significantly increased boiler pressure of 500 psi (34.5 bar). Its boiler was also fully enclosed.

Since the significantly more complicated maintenance was not worth it in any way compared to the gain in efficiency, all of them were retired by 1935. In 1933, the D&H had No. 1402 “L.F. Loree” built as its fourth high-pressure locomotive with a 4-8-0 wheel arrangement, which suffered the same fate.

The class 56^2-8 was a conversion of the Prussian G 8¹, which had received a bissel axle in front of the coupled axles. On the one hand, this measure served to increase the permitted speed and also reduced the axle load to just over 16 tons. Although the G 8¹ was powerful, it could not achieve smooth running due to the missing carrying axle and the large overhangs. At the same time as the bissel axle was added, the boiler was moved slightly forward for better weight distribution and was also placed higher. In addition, ballast weights were attached to obtain additional traction due to the now very low axle load of the first two coupled axles. 

A total of 691 engines were rebuilt in this form. They could now run 70 km/h and were even used in the following decades to pull passenger trains in local traffic. Of the engines that were still in existence after the Second World War, smaller numbers were in Poland, Austria and the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, where they were also used everywhere. The Reichsbahn in the GDR was the last to use them until 1970.

However, most of the locomotives were in the three western zones after the war. A total of 410 engines were counted in varying conditions, of which the newly founded Federal Railways took over 368 pieces. They were phased out by 1968, with a new number being only provided for the last survivor, but no longer applied.