Class 170 (Locobase 1209)

Data from the table presented on pages 383, 385 of the Groupe VI. - GTnie civil. - Moyens de transport. Deuxieme partie. Classes 32 (Tome I), part of the series of Rapports du Jury Internationale of the Exposition Unverselle Internationale de 1900 Paris Exposition, hosted on the website of Le Conservatoire numTrique des Arts & MTtiers ([], Accessed 21 August 2005). See also Maurice Demoulin, Locomotive Actuelle ... (Paris: Librairie Polytechnique Ch.Beranger, 1906), p 256; and Gustav Reder (Michael Reynolds, trans), The world of steam locomotives (New York: Putnam, 1974).. Data on production from [], which shows that Wiener Neustadt, Floridsdorf, StEG, Bohemian (BMMF),

Designed by Karl Golsdorf to cope with a 16-mile grade of nearly continuous 2.6% grade, these engines filled the bill. According to the Jury report, tests showed an ability to pull 230 tonnes up a 2.4% grade at 28-30 km/h and the same load up a 3.2% incline at 25-28 km'h. More surprising, perhaps, was the maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) on the level.

The Jury also noted that although the "Consolidation" was quite common in the United States, this locomotive and a Chinese South East locomotive produced by Fives-Lille were the only ones of this arrangement to be shown at the 1900 Exposition.

To OS Nock (RWC III, pl 127), the 170s had "all the Golsdorf specialties, of compound starting valve, double-domes, and the general odd-sided appearance that was inherent in the design." The 2nd and 4th axles were given side play and the leading truck had an Adams radial axle and thus, wrote Reder (1974), "there were three flanges operating and the lateral shifts were spread over them in such a way as to create a smooth and steady entry into the curve."

Demoulin gives some numbers for this wiry 2-8-0. The Adams radial pony truck had 63 mm of lateral play while the 2nd and 4th coupled axles had 23 mm.

See Locobase 9419 for the data on the production version.

Class 170.010 (Locobase 9419)

Data from the table presented on pages 383, 385 of the Groupe VI. - GTnie civil. - Moyens de transport. DeuxiFme partie. Classes 32 (Tome I), part of the series of Rapports du Jury Internationale of the Exposition Unverselle Internationale de 1900 Paris Exposition, hosted on the website of Le Conservatoire numTrique des Arts & MTtiers ([], Accessed 21 August 2005). See also Maurice Demoulin, Locomotive Actuelle ... (Paris: Librairie Polytechnique Ch.Beranger, 1906), p 256. Data on production from [], which shows that Wiener Neustadt, Floridsdorf, StEG, Bohemian (BMMF)

See Locobase 1209 for an account of the origins of this most-numerous single class to built for the Austrian State railway system.

Although only a few were originally to be purchased, the type caught on to the point that it was the largest single class on the Austrian railways and production continued past World War I. In addition to the 796 built for the Austrian State Railways, 54 were delivered to the Austrian Sudbahn between 1898 and 1908. Polish State Railways received a large number of 170s after World War One, reclassifying them as Tr 11s. At the start of World War II, 145 remained in service and even after the devastation of the next 6 years, the postwar railway could still operate 72. Some of these ran until 1957.

Class 270 (Locobase 1210)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966); and [], accessed 26 August 2006. See also Google's translation of the Czech locomotive site [] . The Wikipedia author notes that this superheated version of the earlier class 170 appeared 2 decades after the saturated version. It was designed by Johann Rihosek, a disciple of Karl Gÿlsdorf but one willing to adopt the simple-expansion two-cylinder layout. Like many other designs of the era, the superheater area was pretty small to avoid super high temperatures. Still the design was pretty powerful, being rated at 1,220 tons at 60 km/h (37 mph).

Like so many Austro-Hungarian designs, only a small percentage of these sturdy Consolidations actually operated very long in Austria. Many of them migrated to former Imperial lands after the 1918 Armistice as well as to other countries. Eventually they could be found in Czechoslovakia (CSD 434.1), Hungary (M-V 403.6), Italy (FS 728/), Poland (PKP Tr12), Romania (CFR 140), and Yugoslavia (JD- 25).

The last Austrian example was withdrawn in 1968, that of the CSD in 1976.

A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc

Class 40 / 179/421 (Locobase 8520)

Data from Wikipedia ([], accessed 24 June 2007). Works numbers were 3544-3551 in 1908, 3661-3668 in 1909.

This class of small, low-drivered, all-adhesion tanks went into service on the ÿsterreichisch-ungarischen Staats-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (StEG) in 1908-1909. Even at the time they were seen as relatively out-of-da421.01-421.16te, according to Wikipedia. This was largely because the cylinder and boiler dimensions were so modest.

Even so, they were adequate and passed on in toto to the CSD after World War One as that new state railway's as their class 421.0 and operated until 1952. Six of these were diverted to the Hungarian State Railways (M-V) as their 477 class during World War II.