Banner
Navigation
loco-info.com
The reference for locomotives and railcars
Navigation
Random
Search
Compare
Settings
Malta Railway No. 7 to 10
go back
Malta | 1895
4 produced
Image of locomotive
Locomotive Magazine, October 1927

Numbers 7 to 10 of the Malta Railway were the last and heaviest locomotives this small seven-mile line had received. The first one was built in 1895 by Beyer, Peacock & Co. after the two previous locomotives built by Manning, Wardle were found to have too much weight on the driving axles. It was based on a 2-6-4T delivered to the Minas and Rio Railway in Brazil, but did not have a cow catcher and a steam sander.

In comparison to locomotives 5 and 6, the new one could be distinguished by the inclined cylinders. It had more weight on the leading Bissel truck and some of the water was being carried next to the coal bunker to get additional weight away from the driving axles. In the result, the driving axles together only carried a weight of 19 tons and 16 cwt. The locomotive could still haul 150 tons with 25 mph on the level and had no problems with the 2 1/2 percent inclines on the line.

Since No. 7 fulfilled all expectations, three more locomotives were built in 1896, 1899 and 1905. The last one differed from the others in that it had cylinders with a diameter of only 18 instead of 20 inches to reduce costs. In World War I, they had to haul trains of up to twelve coaches. Later when they got new boilers, these were still saturated and identical to the original boilers. Their end came in 1931 when the railway had lost to buses and the line was closed.

General
Built1895-1905
ManufacturerBeyer, Peacock & Co.
Wheel arr.2-6-4T (Adriatic) 
Gauge3 ft 3 3/8 in (Meter gauge)
Dimensions and Weights
Wheelbase23 ft 2 in
Rigid wheelbase7 ft 6 in
Service weight79,632 lbs
Adhesive weight44,352 lbs
Water capacity1,201 us gal
Fuel capacity4,480 lbs (coal)
Boiler
Grate area12 sq ft
Firebox area65.4 sq ft
Tube heating area635.3 sq ft
Evaporative heating area700.7 sq ft
Total heating area700.7 sq ft
Power Plant
Driver diameter39.1 in
Boiler pressure160 psi
Expansion typesimple
Cylinderstwo, 14 1/4 x 20 in
Power
Power sourcesteam
Estimated power225 hp (168 kW)
Starting effort14,117 lbf
Calculated Values
steam locomotive
tank locomotive
passenger
Güterzuug
last changed: 08/2025
Search
loadding loading...

We use cookies to save the following settings:

  • selected navigation structure
  • selected language
  • preferred units
  • spelling of railway company names

If you refuse the use of cookies, the settings will only be retained for the current session and will be reset to the default values the next time you visit the site.

Display of units

Here you can set the desired unit system for the technical data.

  • Metric: Lengths in meters, weights in tonnes, and volumes in cubic meters
  • Imperial (UK): Lengths in feet/inches, weights in long tons and volumes in imperial gallons
  • Imperial (US): Lengths in feet/inches, weights in pounds, and volumes in US gallons
  • Individual: Depends on the country of origin of each locomotive
Operator names

Here you can set the display of railway company names.

  • Short: Abbreviation or short form of the name
  • Standard: commonly used name, partially translated to English
  • Complete: full name in local language