In 1903, Kitson presented their variant of the Meyer locomotive in South Africa in which the running gears were further apart and both had the cylinders at the rear. Thus, as with the Garratt, a large firebox could be placed in between. This design, named “Kitson-Meyer”, was offered for testing to the GCR, the Beira and Mashonaland Railway and the CSAR.

The coal bunker with a capacity of seven long tons was on these machines on the main frame behind the cab and the exhaust steam from the rear cylinders was channeled through this into an auxiliary chimney. On the four-axle tender were another six long tons of coal and 3,000 gallons of water.

The CGR received one locomotive, the B&MR two and the CSAR one. With a total of six driving axles, they could pull about one third more than locomotives with four driving axles. However, it quickly turned out to be a disadvantage that the exhaust steam from the rear cylinders did not escape through the smokebox. Thus, the boiler steamed poorly.

The CGR later increased the tender's water capacity to 4,000 gallons at the expense of coal capacity, but of course this did not improve boiler performance. Although they were to become the KM class at the SAR, the CGR and B&MR locomotives were retired in 1912. Only the CSAR loco was able to remain in service for a few more years after modifying the cylinders and reducing the boiler problem.

The location of the Colombian capital Bogotá in the middle of the Andes meant that the 132 km Girardot-Tolima-Huila route started in Girardot at an altitude of 330 meters, followed the Rio Bogotá and reached the capital's suburbs at 2,620 meters. This led to gradients of 4.5 percent with curve radii of up to 72 meters. Since the Kitson-Meyer locomotives already in use there with six coupled axles were soon no longer sufficient, the now nationalized railway tendered the development of even more powerful locomotives in 1934.

The need to accommodate extremely powerful locomotives on the three foot gauge again led to articulated locomotives, this time with eight coupled axles. In addition to the Baldwin-supplied No. 72 simple Mallet, Kitson-Meyer developed the No. 57 of their design. As the size of the locomotive was beyond the factory's capacity, it was manufactured by Robert Stephenson & Co. in Darlington.

Number 57 therefore had the wheel arrangement 2-8-0+0-8-2T and, in accordance with the Kitson-Meyer design, had the firebox between the bogies. The water supplies consisted of a total of 11,340 liters on the two sides of the boiler and 6,804 liters on the rear bogie. This ensured an even weight distribution that hardly changed even as the amount of water dwindled. Since there was an oil refinery in their working area, it was fired with oil. 5,000 liters of it were also stored on the rear bogie. 

Schematic drawing with dimensions

Die Lokomotive, April 1944

Since the locomotive apparently performed well in the first tests, a second one was promptly ordered. The number of the Baldwin machine originally intended as number 58 was rewritten to 72 and the second locomotive was given the number 58. Both were in service until 1959.

The Nord had to haul large quantities of coal from Lens in the Pas-de-Calais region directly to Paris, forming trains weighing more than 950 tons. These were pulled by locomotives with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, which achieved a high average speed on most of the route with a maximum incline of 0.6 percent. On the section between Hirson and Valenciennes, however, the gradient was 1.2 percent, where these locomotives were no longer sufficient.

A freight locomotive was now required that could transport the 950 tonnes on the steep section. Since the maximum axle load of less than 15 tons required many coupled axles, sufficiently large wheels were required for 80 km/h and curves with a radius of 90 meters or more still had to be negotiated, an articulated running gear was necessary. The solution to these requirements was developed by Gaston Du Bousquet and was based on the Meyer design.

Sectional drawing with dimensions

Die Lokomotive, May 1909

The locomotive stood on two bogies, of which the rear one held the high-pressure cylinders and the front one the low-pressure cylinders. The cylinders were each on the inboard side to allow shorter steam paths between the cylinder groups. To circumvent the difficulties of moving steam pipes, the connecting tubes were made of rubberized canvas. To start off, the low-pressure cylinders could be supplied with live steam at a pressure of eight bars, which provided a very high starting tractive effort. In contrast to most articulated locomotives, the non-driving axles were on the inside of the bogies. 

In 1905, initially two prototypes were built, which reached speeds of up to 84 km/h on test drives. On a gradient of one percent they could reach 20 km/h with 1,000 tonnes, at 1.3 percent the same speed was still possible with 800 tonnes. In three batches, 46 more engines were built for the Nord. Since the good performance soon became famous, 13 identical engines for the Est and 38 for the Ceinture were built from 1910 onwards. Similar locomotives were built for the Beijing-Hankou Railway and for the Andalusian Railways.

Although the locomotives had been developed with a split chassis due to the tight curves, they soon had to fear competition from simpler tank locomotives with a 2-10-2 wheel arrangement. However, they were able to remain in service for a long time and were designated by the SNCF as 031+130 TA and TB. They were finally replaced by other engines by 1952, again by tank locomotives with an 2-10-2 wheel arrangement of the Est series T 151-751 to 780. In the meantime, there had been rebuilds on individual engines, including new superheaters, Kylchap blast pipes and new injectors. 

With 96 examples, the IV K was the most numerous narrow-gauge steam locomotive in Germany. Its special feature is the design based on the Meyer design with two bogies, which was due to the requirements for increased tractive effort. Since the six-coupled locomotives of classes I K and III K that had been used up to that point were no longer sufficient for all operations, the answer was a new locomotive with four coupled axles. In order to achieve good negotiation of curves, the special arrangement of the chassis was used.

In contrast to the Mallet, both parts of the chassis of this type of locomotive were designed as swiveling bogies. Furthermore, the cylinders were on the inside of the bogies, but this was also a compound engine. Due to the arrangement of the cylinders, shorter tubes were sufficient. Otherwise, the IV K shared some assemblies with the III K, which is partly recognizable. The model was immediately convincing, which is why production ran from 1892 to 1921. It was used on all narrow-gauge lines in the Saxon network.

After two locomotives were lost during World War I and three more had to be handed over to Poland, the Reichsbahn took over the rest as class 99^51-60. There they also came to the Rügen Light Railway and the Prignitz Light Railway.

After a few units had already been taken out of service in the meantime, another 57 units came to the Reichsbahn of the GDR. There the plan was to replace them in the 1960s with the newly developed diesel locomotives V 36⁴⁸. However, since the axle loads on these were far above the permitted level and they were therefore not produced in series, the steam locomotives had to remain in use. Only the oldest locomotives were retired during this time. In the period that followed, all remaining locomotives received a thorough modernization, which included, among other things, a new, welded boiler and a welded frame. So it turned out that after the German reunification there were still 13 units in active service. After two of them had been sold, Deutsche Bahn AG took over eleven more in 1994. However, these were no longer used as planned.

With the Windberg railway, the Saxon State Railways operated a branch line near Dresden that combined a gradient of 2.5 percent with curve radii from 85 meters. Since the two-axle locomotives around the turn of the century were no longer powerful enough for the rapidly growing excursion traffic and the increasing quantities of coal transport, a more powerful tank locomotive was procured especially for this route.

Based on the IV K narrow-gauge locomotive, a larger Meyer-type locomotive with two bogies and a compound engine was developed. As in the prototype, there were two low and two high-pressure cylinders in the middle of the locomotive, which drove the front and rear wheel sets. To reduce rolling movements, the bogies were coupled to each other.

98 001 in August 1983 in Freital-Hainsberg

Wassen

Between 1910 and 1914, 18 examples were delivered, which were nicknamed “Windberglok” and “Kreuzspinne” (cross spider). Another locomotive was delivered to the Oberhohndorf-Reinsdorf coal railway and came to her sisters in 1940, when they were already owned by the Reichsbahn.

In 1925 the latter still took over 15 and gave them the numbers 98 001 to 98 015. The classification as class 98 marked them as local railway locomotives, although they were larger and heavier than most of this type. This can be explained by the fact that the development was carried out specifically for a single branch line and the focus was on suitability for small curve radii.

After the Second World War, most of the locomotives remained in service with the new Reichsbahn and were also used to transport uranium ore. Their life ended in 1967 when a diesel locomotive, the V 60, was ready that was also suitable for the tight curves. Today only road number 98 001 is preserved and exhibited in a museum.