After the standard gauge rebuilt

Locomotive Magazine, April 1893

The Antwerp-Ghent Railway ordered these two locomotives with the intention of later converting them to standard gauge. So they were built by the manufacturer in such a way that the wheels with a gauge of 3 ft 7 in can be removed inside the frame and reinstalled outside the frame with a gauge of 4 ft 8 1/2 in. This plan was implemented in 1899, at the same time the cab was closed and the Westinghouse air brake was retrofitted.

The D IX was built between 1888 and 1899 by Maffei for the Bavarian State Railways, mainly to be used in front of light passenger trains on the Reichenhall-Freilassing-Salzburg route.

The chassis of the engines consisted of two coupled axles with wheels with a diameter of 1,340 mm and a fixed leading axle. Due to the relatively large wheelbase of the driving axles, which were also fixed, there was less than satisfactory running characteristics in curves and increased wear. The two cylinders were located in front of the leading axle, which turned out to be not the most advantageous layout in terms of vibrations and maintenance.

The maximum speed was 65 km/h, which was sufficient on secondary routes at the time. On the level, the locomotives could be fully utilized with trains up to a maximum of 170 tonnes, but at 2 percent only 20 km/h with a train load of 95 tonnes were possible. In view of the increasingly heavier trains, this performance was soon no longer sufficient, and so the D IX were replaced by six-coupled engines of the D VIII type.

They found their new field of application in the suburban lines of Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg, where almost all of the 55 locomotives made remained in use until after the First World War. They were assigned to class 70⁷¹ from 1925, when their ranks had already thinned out. All the rest were decommissioned by 1932.

The Pt 2/3 was a tank locomotive that was developed for lighter passenger trains and was delivered by Krauss a total of 97 times between 1909 and 1916. It prevailed in testing against the Pt 2/4 N.

Thanks to a superheater, it was now possible to build small locomotives with the simple 2-4-0T wheel arrangement that were still powerful. However, this arrangement of the axles was not derived from the classic 2-4-0 passenger locomotive, but was more in the tradition of the 2-2-0T branch line tank locomotives with a long wheelbase. By adding another coupled axle that can be shifted laterally by 25 mm at a minimal distance from the driving axle, a radially adjustable leading axle could be dispensed with. With this arrangement, a lightweight construction of the locomotive was possible, which consequently also reduced consumption and thus operating costs.

As with other smaller Bavarian tank locomotives, there was a passage at the rear. In order to save costs, the fireman had to take on the role of conductor at the same time. Later, the passage was eliminated in favor of a larger coal box. Another change, which was carried out until 1937, was the exchange of the rigidly installed leading axle for a bissel axle. 50 of the engines were converted in this way and now had the UIC wheel arrangement 1'B instead of 1B.

70 083 in August 2008 in Zwiesel

Konrad Lackerbeck

In 1925, the Reichsbahn included all the engines built as numbers 70 001 to 70 097 in their inventory. After the war, the Bundesbahn took over all 89 remaining examples and used them in southern Germany. Due to their economic efficiency, they remained in use for longer and so the last one was only retired in 1963. Today only road number 70 083 is still operational. Four examples remained in Austria after the Second World War and were used by the ÖBB as class 770. One of these was used in Austria from 1999, but has now been taken to a museum.

The Dukes of Sutherland operated a 17-mile-long railway in the north of Scotland, which, among other things, connected to mines. The third Duke had already received a small 2-4-0T tank locomotive from Kitson in 1871, which he used for private journeys. When the fourth Duke of Sutherland took office, he wanted a new locomotive.

This now had the wheel arrangement 0-4-4T and was delivered by Sharp, Stewart & Co. in 1895. Since its predecessor's locomotive had already been sold to the Highland Railway, the new one was again given the name “Dunrobin”, after the castle with the same name. It had a spacious cab to accommodate guests, some of whom also came from the royal family.

For the Metropolitan and District Lines in London, Joseph Armstrong designed the Class 355, also known as “Metropolitan Tanks” or simply “Metro Tanks”. It was created with a driving wheel diameter of just five feet to ensure adequate acceleration. Since the underground tunnels were also to be run through, many locomotives were fitted with a condensation device. No driver's cab was installed, as Armstrong believed it would have reduced staff attention.

With enlarged water tanks and leading axle in outside frame

Locmotive Magazine, March 1903

The first 60 machines were built between 1868 and 1878 in three series of 20 units each. In the first two series, all axles were mounted in the inside frame, in the third series the leading axle was in external bearings and the wheelbase of the coupled axles was slightly larger. In the early years, the locomotives were also required to haul goods trains within London city limits until the Class 633 became available. After Armstrong's death, a total of seven more series with a total of 80 more locomotives were procured by William Dean between 1878 and 1899. These had a larger boiler and larger supplies.

No. 3593 rebuilt as 2-4-2T

Locmotive Magazine, December 1905

In the 1880s, the first series were already being rebuilt with a larger boiler and larger water tanks. Half and fully enclosed driver's cabs were retrofitted in later years. The first of the older machines were already retired around 1900. However, the newer ones in particular were used for a longer period of time.

With the electrification of the Metropolitan and District Lines in 1905 and 1907, the locomotives were also used on other lines. For this purpose, the condensation devices were removed and partially a push-pull train control was installed. For the routes of the underground, the GWR kept about 50 machines available until about 1930, which were then replaced by the class 6100 Large Prairies. Other locomotives were used in more rural regions and some were even used on the main line. In the thirties most were retired. A total of ten were still in existence when British Railways was founded in 1948, but these disappeared by 1949.

The Hoylake Railway operated a few miles of track on the Wirral Peninsula on the opposite bank of the Mersey river near Liverpool, which mostly served passenger services. It was founded in 1863 and was known as the Hoylake & Birkenhead Railway from 1872 after some line extensions. Today it is better known under the name Wirral Railway, which it has borne since 1884. In the grouping in 1923 it came to the LMS.

After 1873 it was decided to extend the route from Hoylake to West Kirby and two new tank locomotives had to be procured. They came from the Yorkshire Engine Company and were given the names “West Kirby” and “Birkenhead”. In principle, they were of a standard type of this manufacturer, only the driving wheel diameter was slightly larger at 60 inches and the firebox was also slightly larger than most comparable engines.

Both engines completed their service relatively unremarkably on the short branch line. Both were later sold to industrial companies in the region. The “West Kirby” came to a company called Josiah Hardman Ltd. at Milton while the “Birkenhead” landed at the coal mine called “Talk o'th' Hill”. Locomotive Magazine stated in January 1918 that both were apparently still in service at the time.

For the operation of their London suburban lines, the LSWR planned to purchase small, three-axle tank locomotives. Between 1852 and 1859, Joseph Hamilton Beattie had a total of 26 tank locomotives of different designs built in order to determine the optimal design. Although some of the locomotives also had the 2-2-2T wheel arrangement, the choice fell on the 2-4-0T wheel arrangement and a driving wheel diameter of 66 inches. This ensured good acceleration, but also sufficient speed on sections with larger distances between stations.

Between 1863 and 1875 Beyer, Peacock & Co. built 82 locomotives. By 1872 the LSWR had built three more in their own workshops at Nine Elms. The cylinder diameter of the first copies was 15 inches, this was later increased to 15.5 and then to 16.5 inches. The last twelve locomotives again had cylinders with a diameter of 15.5 inches, but a stroke of 22 instead of 21 inches. The two water tanks were located above the leading axle and under the driver's cab floor. Since this design is referred to as “well tanks” in the English-speaking world, they were given their well-known nickname.

From 1890 they were pushed out of their original area of operation because more powerful tank locomotives were now available on the London suburban lines. Outside the metropolitan area, their water capacity soon proved inadequate. A total of 31 had been rebuilt into tender locomotives from 1883 onwards. The largest part of the fleet was retired by 1899, of which only the three with the numbers 298, 314 and 329 from the construction years 1874 and 1875 were spared.

Preserved No. 0314 at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre

Oxyman

These three came to the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway in Cornwall, which carried kaolinite or “China Clay” to the main line. They underwent extensive modernization, including the addition of a cab. All three came to British Railways, where they were considered the oldest locomotive type still in use, if not the oldest locomotives at all. Two of them were preserved after they were retired in 1962 and are still operational today.

Starting in 1882, this Joint Railway operated three tank locomotives with a 2-4-0T wheel arrangement for use in front of passenger trains. These were a standard Beyer, Peacock & Co. design with five and a half foot diameter driving wheels. Number 6 is recorded as later being sold to the Wight Central Railway. In 1884, a slightly larger machine from the same manufacturer followed, bearing the number 8.

Under the designation T 4, the Prussian State Railways grouped various different tank locomotives with two coupled axles and a carrying axle, which were primarily developed for suburban traffic. The engines were produced by various manufacturers in the period between 1882 and 1899. The early batches were not yet normalized and can in turn be divided into four sub-variants. What they had in common was the front arrangement of the carrying axle, which meant the wheel arrangement 2-4-0, and the same cylinder dimensions with a diameter of 420 mm and a stroke of 610 mm. The cylinders were still in front of the leading axke, which had a negative impact on running behavior.

The oldest variant was the Moabit type, six of which were manufactured by Borsig from 1882 and had a fixed leading axle. The boiler pressure was ten bars, as was the case with the Altona design supplied by Union Gießerei Königsberg from 1888 onwards. One difference with these was that the leading axle was designed as an Adams axle and thus enabled better negotiation of curves. From this ten locomotives were completed. The so-called Berlin type, which was created from the Moabit type and was also produced from 1884, achieved the largest number of 68 pieces in total. While the first six units were delivered with an Adams axle and ten bars of boiler pressure, the rest did not have the moving axle and the pressure was increased to twelve bars.

With a boiler pressure of already twelve bars, but still a fixed leading axle, Borsig produced 14 units in 1884 and Henschel in 1888, which were designated as the Magdeburg type. They were used in the suburban services of Berlin and Magdeburg and could hold more water than their predecessors.

The first standardized variant known as the T 4 was the Hanover design, which was used not only in the city that gave it its name, but also in the suburban services of Gdansk and Kassel. To achieve smoother running, the cylinders were moved between the forward and the first coupled axle and now the rear coupled axle was powered. Between 1885 and 1890, 24 machines were built, most of which were built by Hanomag and some by Henschel and Hartmann.

T 4¹ No. 70 7007 as works locomotive at RAW Meiningen in 1933

Werner Hubert

The T 4¹, which was derived from the Berlin form but, in contrast to this, was built according to standards, was the strongest in terms of numbers. The only major change was the elimination of the steam dome and the use of a regulator cap instead. Between 1890 and 1899, Henschel manufactured 169 engines, some of which went to other customers. In addition to two examples for the Royal Prussian Military Railway, the Reichseisenbahnen Alsace-Lorraine ordered ten units and the Lübeck-Eutiner Eisenbahn ordered eight more. The T 4¹ was given the class 70⁷⁰ in the Reichsbahn renumbering plan, but was completely phased out with the exception of road number 70 7007 by 1925.

The T 4² had a special position between its sisters because it had a trailing axle (wheel arrangement 0-4-2T) and had been developed for use on branch lines. They had a Crampton boiler and were built 63 times between 1889 and 1897 by Henschel and Schichau.

The last type was the T 4³, which was intended for the Werra Railway between Eisenach and Lichtenfels in Bavaria and of which only three examples had been delivered by Schichau in 1898. They had the longest wheelbase of all variants of the T 4 and were the only ones to have a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie to improve curve negotiation. They also did not come to the final renumbering as the class 70⁷⁰, since they were retired in 1924.