Bulgarian State 2-10-0 Locomotives in Bulgaria

Class 10 (Locobase 1588)

See A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966) and [] (viewed 18 July 2003). Tube diameters are inner dimensions.

Fixed wheelbase was 3.8 meters (12.47 ft). Schwartzkopff delivered the first batch of 10 in 1931. The 6 that came in 1935 were divided equally between Schwartzkopff and Krupp.

Trifonov says these engines were procured to replace the older Class 19s in heavy passenger and freight service. They maintained that position until supplanted by Class 15s (German Class 52 Kriegloks) in 1966.

Class 13 (Locobase 5668)

[] (viewed 18 July 2003) for the data. See Locobase 2515 for a description of the original German G12s that were the source of this class in Bulgaria.

Although this set of specs is likely to be as representative of the original G12s as any, I've created a separate entry for two reasons:

1) Bulgaria didn't have any of this class until 1939, some time after the 1,500-odd locomotives had been produced, and

2) Trifonov's data (from D. Deyanov & A. Borisova Bulgarian Locomotives, 1972) includes information that I can't verify as having exactly the same on the original loks as built.

Having originally rented the engines, the BDZ later bought them and established the Class 13. Initially used as freight haulers, they were later employed in heavy switching duties. Trifonov notes that they had their good and bad points: ON the good side, they generated a good tractive effort at a relatively low boiler pressure even with the lignite coal burned on Bulgarian railroads. But the "Drilling" (3-cylinder) layout was complicated and difficult to keep in good order. So they were retired in the late 1960s.

Class 19 (Locobase 1593)

See A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc. See also [] (viewed 18 July 2003), which had more complete info. Tube diameters are inner dimensions.

These four-cylinder Wulff compounds had sharply inclined outside LP cylinders and inside LP cylinders driving the third axle. The gap between the second and third axles was considerably longer than any other driving axle spacings. Rigid wheelbase (1st to 3rd axles) spanned only 10 ft 10 in.

Designed for mainline passenger and freight hauling up steep gradients, these were the first superheated Bulgarian engines built in significant numbers. They proved reliable and powerful, some running for as long as 54 years. Wintertime proved to be a special province of these engines as their downward-angled cylinders cleared higher drifts of snow than many other designs.