Prussian State 2-8-2 Locomotives in Germany

Class P.10 / BR 39 (Locobase 1126)

Data from Albert Gieseler's Dampmaschinen und Lokomotiven website, last accessed 26 January 2019 at [] the US Military Railway Service German Locomotive Equipment Data Book supplied by Allen Stanley in April 2004 from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection. [NB: The conversions to Anglo-American data equivalents were very precise--very small differences between the two sources.] See also "A 3-Cylinder Mikado-Newest German Type," Railway Review, Volume 72, No 18 (5 May 1923), pp. 757-760.

Developed by August Meister at Borsig. Used Belpaire firebox behind long boiler that showed a sand dome flanked by two steam domes. A trapezoid grate, created by joining a front narrow rectangle with a rear wider rectangle, distributed the weight of the firebox better, but had too many angles to be worth repeating.

A Knorr feed water heater was fitted. Running smoothness was aided by combining the lead truck and the front driver in a Krauss-Helmholtz truck. A capped stack with an odd thick band halfway down, large smoke lifters, and brilliant red paint on the running gear completed the picture.

260 completed by 1927, ran until 1967. Operated as express passenger locomotives pulling 720-ton trains at 62-75 mph (100-120 kph) on level track, 390-ton trains up 2.5% gradients at 28 mph in the Black Forest. Several German locomotive firms contributed to the class: Borsig (93), Henschel & Sohn (78), Krupp (29), Karlsruhe (24), Hanomag (19), and Linke Hofmann (17). None ever actually operated for the KPEV as its supercession by the DRG had already been authorized at the time of their construction.

An article in Marklin's Z-club newsletter (found on the web 2 May 2004) says that the design proved powerful, but uneconomic. Coal consumption was high and the boiler had trouble producing full steam pressure.

Also, because the design was overweight, many were delivered and immediately parked. While the locomotives lay idle, they began to rust, which meant that before they could be put in service later, they had to be overhauled.

Eventually analysis of the fuel-consumption rate showed that the air vents letting air into the grate were too small; by the time of the discovery, however, the impending transition to diesel and electric motive power meant that no Bundesbahn locomotives would be modified. The East German DR did overhaul 85 machines as their class 22 and eliminated the problem; see Locobase 1700.

Class T14.1/BR 93.5-93.12 (Locobase 5762)

Data from the US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book for German Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange in March 2004.

Although the KPEV developed a work-around for the over-loaded front axle on the T14, the railway introduced a modified design with larger water tanks and coal bunkers. At first the problem was simply transferred to the rear carrying axle, which initially bore a 19.1-tonne load. Decreasing water capacity under the bunker reduced that loading to 17.4-tonnes. Eleven different builders supplied T14.1 engines, which were taken into the DRG in 1923 as the 93.5 to 93.12 classes.

Even at the end of World War II, 444 of these engines wee still available to the DB.

Class T14/BR 93.0-93.4 (Locobase 1289)

Data from the US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book for German Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange in March 2004.

Designed to a requirement for a powerful commuter locomotive, this class met the specifications except for a maldistribution of weight. The front carrying axle was found to have a 17.3-tonne loading, higher than any other axle. Blocking off part of the water tank (thus reducing its capacity) reduced the weight. The rest of the design was apparently quite satisfactory as well over 500 were built from 1914 to 1919. The T14.1 represents a modification designed to rectify the axle-loading problem.