Giuseppe Belluzzo designed a steam turbine locomotive with each wheel powered by its own turbine. Built in 1908 by Officine Meccaniche in Milan, the locomotive had two axles and thus four turbines connected in series. The steam first drove the turbine on the front right wheel and the exhaust steam was used to drive the turbine on the right rear wheel. This continued with the rear left and front left wheels before finally ending up in the smoke box.

The turbines turned at a much higher speed than the wheels. Different speeds could be achieved with the help of different gear wheels, while forward and reverse travel was made possible by double guide vanes. Although the prototype was in use until 1921, the drive form with several turbines did not catch on.

While other railroads switched from coal to diesel, the C&O refused to take this step for a while. Given their huge coal business, attempts were made to modernize the fleet while retaining coal as fuel. In 1948 and 1949, a total of three coal-fired steam turbine locomotives were built, which were the longest single-unit locomotives in the world and were nicknamed “Holy Cow”.

In the front part of the locomotives was the coal bunker, which fed the 6,000 hp turbine in the rear part of the locomotive. The water came from an additional tender. The eight traction motors were powered by the four generators, which together delivered 4,960 hp. With this system it was hoped that maintenance would be easier than with piston steam locomotives and the aim was to complete round trips of 1,000 miles without servicing stops.

The intended area of operation was the planned “Chessie” streamlined train. With a top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h) of the locomotives, this was to be hauled at a cruising speed of 70 mph (113 km/h). The M-1's fate finally came when they turned out to be very unreliable and the “Chessie” did not come into being. They were eventually used in other areas for only a short time and were scrapped in 1950.

In the twenties, the Reichsbahn started to experiment with steam turbine locomotives with mechanical power transmission. The main reason was estimated coal savings of 20 to 30 percent. Additionally, they promised a smoother acceleration and the use of a condenser prevented the buildup of limestone in the boiler. They just needed a fan to generate draft in the boiler since there was no exhaust steam from the cylinders that could be used.

The first prototype was the T 18 1001 that was built in 1924 by Krupp with the support of Escher, Wyss & Cie. of Switzerland. It had a 2,000 hp Krupp-Zoelly turbine mounted laterally above the leading bogie that transmitted its power to a crank axle. With a booster valve, it could even generate 2,800 hp for a limited time. For reversing, there was a smaller second turbine. This one was later replaced by a starting and shunting turbine with a reversable gearbox. The condensation device was placed in the tender.

1001 was tested for some time and then used in regular service from Hamm depot. Compared to traditional piston steam locomotives, it saved about 25 percent of coal. According to “Die Lokomotive”, June 1930, the coal savings compared to the P 10 were even 40 percent. Additionally, the condenser meant that it only needed very few water refillings. It was used until 1940 and was destroyed in the war.

A second prototype numbered T 18 1002 was built in 1926 by Maffei. It was also a Pacific, but had a Ljungström turbine and the condenser was not mounted on the tender, but on the locomotive below the running boards. Also this locomotive was used in regular express service, but was stationed at Munich. When this one was retired in 1943, it became clear that it did not achieve considerable coal savings.

To increase the efficiency of steam locomotives, Richard Paul Wagner had the idea to mount an exhaust turbine not on the locomotive, but in the tender. He designed a tender with the wheel arrangement 2-4-4, where the exhaust from the cylinders of the locomotive powered a 600 hp turbine that was connected to a crank shaft and two axles. After the steam had been cooled to ambient temperature, it was separated from oil and fed back into the water tank. A second, smaller turbine was installed for reversing.

The locomotive used for trials was a Prussian P 8 that received some modifications. Since the exhaust steam was fed into the tender by a pipe, a fan was mounted in the smokebox to create the draft needed by the fire. The cone-shaped smokebox door was not mounted for aerodynamic reasons, but due to the space needed by the fan.

After the trial runs started in late 1927 it became clear that the efficiency of the boiler got worse due to the modifications. In 1931, the reverse turbine was removed and the steam lines were optimized for increased power and decreased coal consumption. The combination of locomotive and tender remained a one-off, but was used for some years in schedules made for the class 39 2-8-2. In 1937, the tender was scrapped and the modifications made to the locomotive undone. Afterwards it was used as regular passenger locomotive 38 3255.