Preussischen Staatsbahnen / Prussian State 4-4-0 Locomotives in Germany

Class Hanover 74/S3 (Locobase 1476)

Data from Reder (1974), pp. 211 and Joost Wilbrink ([]). Works number was 1643 in April 1898.

This was the world's first locomotive superheated according to Wilhelm Schmidt's design. Strongly supported by the Prussian State's Robert Garbe, Schmidt installed a smoketube superheater in an S3 design. It had a single 450-mm (17.75") flue in the middle of the boiler. At the firebox end, the tube shrank to 8" (203 mm) at the firebox end to reduce stress caused by the direct flame. The heated gas from the firebox traveled down the tube, entering the superheater's header through slits and superheating steam coming from the dry pipe.

Although Schmidt would alter the basic design in later locomotives, this engine remained in service the end of World War One.

Class P 4.1/Kassel 131 (Locobase 1477)

Data from Reder (1974), pp. 211 and pl. 268, Wikipedia's entry at [], last accessed 19 November 2016, and Joost Wilbrink ([]).

This was the slightly later companion to the Hanover 74 (Locobase 1476) and was the second locomotive fitted with what Gustav Reder described as "the greatest step forward in locomotive design since Stephenson." See the Hanover 74 description for a description of the single-flue design.

That later Schimdt superheaters would use bundles of smaller tubes and a header fully installed in the smokebox doesn't detract from the advance this pair of locomotives represented.

Class P 4.2 / BR 36 0 (Locobase 1267)

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. See also the table presented on pages 370, 372 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).

Local-service variants of the S3, the only difference being smaller drivers. They were rated at 285 tons up a 1/2% grade at 31 mph (50 km/h).

These were Von Borries compounds in which the low-pressure valve cutoff event was set to occur 40-50% later than the HP valves. This, according to Reder (1974, p 183), equalized the effort of the two cylinders. Visually, the design displayed a tall, cylindrical steam dome and tall, slightly tapered stack.

Class P4.1 (Locobase 21050)

Data from "2/4 gek. Personenzug-lokomotive fur Preussische Staatsbahnen", Locomotiven, A Borsig (Tegel bei Berlin, 1898), archived on Historical Railway Images, Flickr, at [], p. 5, last accessed 11 July 2022. . Works numbers were 4651-4661in 1898.

Although they all had the same power dimensions (cylinder volume, boiler pressure, and driver diameter), several small variations in heating surface and grate areas appeared as batches of P4 Eight-wheelers entered service in the KPEV in the late 1890s. Three of these Tegel-built locomotives went to Magdeburg, the other eight to Stettin.

Class S 3 / BR 13.0 (Locobase 1121)

Data from Reder (1974), pl. 229. []

Von Borries compounds in which the low-pressure valve cutoff event was set to occur 40-50% later than the HP valves. This adjustment, according to Reder, equalized the effort of the two cylinders. After experiments with other starting devices that admitted high-pressure steam to both cylinders, S3s were fitted with the Dultz intercepting valve. Visually, the design displayed a tall, cylindrical steam dome and tall, slightly tapered stack.

Tonnage ratings were 320 long tons on the level at 75 km/h (47 mph), 150 tons up a 1% grade at 50 km/h (31 mph). The Prussian State railway built 1,072 of these engines. 1,191 P4s also entered service as local-service engines. These differed only in their smaller, 69" drivers.

Class S 4 / Berlin 74 (Locobase 1478)

Data and description from Reder (1974, pl 269).

This locomotive appeared at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition with Wilhelm Schmidt's latest smokebox superheater design. An illustration from the catalog confirms that all of the elements of this variant were placed outside of the smokebox. A 12" (305-mm) flue fed the tubes. These were laid out in 3 lobes flanking the smokebox and connected by the cast headers boxes on either side of the stack. (So from one side to the other it was tubes-header-tubes-header-tubes). Steam came from the boiler through the right-hand tubes, thence in sequence through the other parts of the superheater. After 4 trips around the shamrock, the now-superheated steam was let into the cylinders.

Class S 5.1 - de Glehn (Locobase 1221)

Data from diagram Loco: 129, Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques from locomotive book supplied by Dany Machi up at [] as

Diagrammes des machines SACM construites a GRAFENSTADEN (October 2007).

These are the deGlehn compounds built for the Prussian State Railways several years after the earlier, smaller design of 1894. Grafenstaden produced ten of the type, Henschel delivered an even dozen.

Well-liked by the railway, the class operated out of the Altona, Erfurt, and Magdeburg engine depots.

They were, however, really too small for 20th Century traffic demands and had all been withdrawn by 1920.

Class S 5.1 - de Glehn (1894) (Locobase 15570)

Data from Christian Lindecke's Lokodex compendium at [], last accessed 8 November 2013; Tomasz Galka, "Pd3" in the "Express Steam Locomotives in his Standard Gauge Locomotives in Poland website at [], last accessed 8 June 2024; and "Preuáische S 5" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 8 June 2024.

Well-liked by the railway, these four-cylinder deGlehn compound Eight-wheelers operated out of the Altona, Erfurt, and Magdeburg engine depots.

They were, however, really too small for 20th Century traffic demands and had all been withdrawn by 1920.

Class S 5.1 - von Borries (Locobase 1471)

Von Borries-type compounding

Reder (1974), pl 258. And data shown in the table presented on pages 370, 372 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).

One big difference between this von Borries design and the rival de Glehn compound design was the former's driving the front axle with all four cylinders. (The de Glehn split the drive between the two axles.)

According to a footnote on p.307 of the jury's report, after the exposition closed, the prototype locomotive was tested against a two-cylinder simple-expansion design supplied by Borsig on the line between Hanover and Stendal. The rake amounted to 278 tonnes, which each engine pulled at speed up to 89.4 km/h (55.5 mph). In addition to burning less coal per unit of horsepower, the compound's "allure" (ride, presumably) was reported to be "remarquablament stable et douce".

NB: Tube heating surface area using the inside (fire side) diameter measured 109.0 sq m (1,173 sq ft); when combined with the direct heating surface area, the total came to 118.60 sq m (1,276 sq ft). Locobase uses the external (water side) diameter to arrive at the higher number in the table.

Even so, expectations that the von Borries would replace the earlier S3 (Locobase 1121, e.g.) succumbed to the S5's lack of boiler capacity. None of these was taken into the DRG in the mid-1920s.

Class S 5.2 / BR 13.6-13.8 (Locobase 1260)

[] has details on this design, supplemented by

.[] . Joost Wilbrink explains that the rapid growth in train weight at the turn of the 20th century led to small batches of 4-cylinder compound engines by Grafenstaden and Hannover. Because these failed to meet the requirements, a beefed-up version of the earlier S3 was chosen. Vulkan created an engine with a larger, higher-pitched boiler and the design was a hit. Vulkan and Schichau shared production from 1905 to 1911. . Except the directions Berlin, Breslau, Erfurt, Mnnster and Posen, the S52 was in service at all Prussian directions, most steam engines had their service at the direction of Hannover.

After the First World War 22 locomotives were handed over to Poland, 9 to Belgium, 6 to Latvia, and 3 locomotives to Lithuania.

The DRG took over 200 steam engines, but they served only briefly. The last was taken out of service in 1930..

Class S 6 / BR 13.10-13.12 (Locobase 1261)

Data from Albert H Bone, "Some Recent Designs of Locomotives for Service on Continental Railways", Cassier's Magazine, 1910, pp. 561-609, Gustav Reder (1974), and Dr. R. Sanzin, "Die Lokomotiven auf der Intertionalen Austellung in Mailand 1906, 2. 2/4 gekuppelte Heissdampfschnellzuglokomotive der preussische Staatsbahnen ...", Zeitschrift des Oesterreichischen Ingenieur- und Architeckten-Vereines, Vol LVIII Nr. 49 (7 December 1906), p 681.

Linke-Hofmann of Breslau produced more than half of the engines (330). Henschel & Sohn in Kassel contributed 173 and Humboldt of Cologne added 81.

In many ways the definitive 4-4-0 in Germany, particularly as it was the last class. Handsome, with a thick smokebox, high running board showing most of the tall drivers, outside Walschaerts gear, these Robert Garbe-designed engines originally entered service without balance weights on the drivers. They used the boilers originally designed for the G8 0-8-0 and P6 2-6-0 freight engines, which conferred great steaming capacity. Garbe offset the loss of recoil absorption usually afforded by the balance weights by coupling the tender tightly to the locomotive.

But, Reder (1974) notes, "it eventually emerged that, to save weight, too many pieces had been built too weak and that there was still a pronounced recoiling motion. From 1911, various parts were strengthened, therefore, and the balanceweights reintroduced." Even with the balance weight problem, these powerful engines filled the bill on the flatlands in the northern part of Germany and almost 600 of the class were built by 1913.

And Tomas Galka in his Polish website -- [] -- offers a less positive judgement: "Some considered these machines adequate for tasks they had been designed for; other complained of uneasy running (not particularly surprising with only two driven axles) and vibration ...It was, however, steam superheating that made it modern." Somewhat surprisingly, Galka says that the drivers' long wheelbase was seen by contemporaries as somehow old-fashioned."

Class S4 - smokebox superheater (Locobase 15559)

Data from Dr. R. Sanzin, "Die Lokomotiven auf der Intertionalen Austellung in Mailand 1906, 1. 2/4 gekuppelte Heissdampfschnellzuglokomotive der preussische Staatsbahnen ...", Zeitschrift des Oesterreichischen Ingenieur- und Architeckten-Vereines, Vol LVIII Nr. 49 (7 December 1906), p 681.

The S4 described in Locobase 1220 was one of the first express engines to use the Schmidt firetube superheater. But Robert Garbe fitted the first batch in the class with the smokebox variant. A big difference between the two was the provision in the smokebox version of one big fire tube measuring 10-12" (254-306 mm) in diameter that ran from the lower part of the firebox to the center of the coiled superheater pipes in the smoke box. An assessment quoted from the English version of the Schmidt Superheating Company's 1908 catalogue archived at [], last accessed 1 November 2013 claimed: "No differences exist between these two types with regard to economy or efficiency, but there were advantages of the smoke tube type over the smoke box type, like water distribution, weight, accessibility and simpler design."

So after these 30 locomotives, the KPEV switched to a Schmidt layout.

Class S4 / BR 13.5 (Locobase 1220)

Information from Reder, A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc, and OS Nock (RWC III, pl 141), Christian Lindecke's entry at [], 29 Dec 2003), and []

One of the first engines with a Schmidt superheater, this engine was the latest in a series of 4-4-0s that were first built with the Garbe smokebox reheater (See Locobase 15559). After 30 had been delivered with that type, the designers introduced the Schmidt superheater and the results confirmed the soundness of such a move.

In a 1904 competition with several other locomotives, this design outstripped them all in maximum speed (and consequently horsepower) reached with a given load. Reder (1974) somewhat romantically summarizes: "It was like the fairy tale story of the ugly duckling becoming a magnificent swan." Borsig, Henschel, and Humboldt shared production honors over the seven-year construction period (1902-1909).

But time overtook the pioneers; when the DRG sifted through its bewildering variety of inherited passenger power, it chose to keep only 4 of these S4s.

are slightly more precise than those of Durrant and are the ones converted in the table.

Class T 5.2 / BR 72 (Locobase 6363)

Data from Christian Lindecke data from [] (21 Nov 2004), supplemented by []

The earlier T5 2-4-2 (see Locobase 2136) was rated at 60 km/h (37 mph), but that was soon insufficient for the growth in local passenger traffic and the T5s couldn't be pushed any harder because they became unstable at higher speeds.

The T5 2 design responded to the problem by increasing the wheel diameter, which allowed an increase to 75 km/h (47 mph). Henschel & Sohn supplied 26, Grafenstaden produced another 10.

Their utility was limited by the lack of bi-directional running capability and they ran only in the Berlin suburbs. At the formation of the DRG in 1925, only 2 were taken into the national railway and these were scrapped by 1930.

Two later, superheated locomotives took the same 72 001-002 numbers.