Saechsischen 4-6-0 Locomotives in Germany

Class XII H / BR 17.6 (Locobase 8076)

Data from Christian Lindecke's Lokodex site ([].., last accessed 5 January 2007) and the Wikipedia entry on this class, supplemented by [], last accessed 13 May 2011.

The Saxon State Railway system needed to increase the power of its express locomotives to handle heavier trains in relatively adverse gradients. The three Locobase entries 8076 through 8078 describe the three versions of the Ten-wheeler that resulted. This entry talks about the four-cylinder simple, but superheated design that appeared in 1906.

Most significant of the XII H's many features was the H, which connoted the appearance of one of the first superheated boilers in service. As would be the case for most German and Prussian engines, the amount of superheater area was substantially greater in proportion that that of many other early superheated designs in other countries.

The eye-catching design sported streamlining "wind-cutters" behind the stack and the domes. The two steam domes were connected by an external pipe. All four cylinders drove on the leading coupled axle, a configuration adopted for many British 4-6-0 locomotives. In the K Sachs circumstances, however, the volume of 4 cylinders proved too much for the boiler and only 6 went into service.

All 6 were pulled into a DRG class in 1925, but retired in 1926-1928, except for BR 17 602, which wound up on the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn and was only discarded in 1956.

Class XII H1 / BR 17.8 (Locobase 8078)

Data from Christian Lindecke's Lokodex site ([].., last accessed 5 January 2007), the Wikipedia entry on this class, and Albert H Bone, "Some Recent Designs of Locomotives for Service on Continental Railways", Cassier's Magazine, 1910, pp. 561-609.

Locobase 8076 describes the XII H, the 4-cylinder simple design that proved heavy on fuel and Locobase 8077 describes the winning version of the basic XII, the compound-working XII HV. The present entry takes up the 7 engines that had the most traditional layout: two large cylinders, both of which were fed with live steam. Wikipedia says that this design stemmed from the X H1 Atlantic (4-4-2) -- Locobase 8058 -- that was developed in parallel and entered production in the same year.

As far as power went, the XII H1 displayed the most of the three Ten-wheelers, managing 450 tons at maximum speed on steep sections. This was 200 tons more than the compound's rating. But, although the lower cylinder volume meant less demand on the boiler, the XII HV still carried the day over the XII H1 because of still-lower consumption rates combined with the smoother operation of a 4-cylinder locomotive.

As with other German classes, war-reparations distribution claimed some of the XII H1s. The 3 that went to France filled a gap on the Est as 3305-3307. Two remained in operation when the SNCF came into being in 1939 and these were classed as 230 Es (305-306). The 230 E 305 survived World War Two and was withdrawn only in 1948.

The DRG took in the 4 survivors in 1925 as BR 17.8, but disposed of them in 1929.

Class XII H2 / BR 38 2-3 (Locobase 6032)

Data from US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book -- German Locomotives supplied from the extensive collection of Allen Stanley (March 2004), Christian Lindecke's website [] (visited 11 April 2004), and Wikipedia's entry on the XII H1 accessed 5 January 2007.

This was a well-liked and extensively used eastern German passenger locomotive, second only in numbers to the huge P8 class of the KPEV. Wikipedia notes that this design was based on the 7 Schnellzuglokomotiven of the XII H1 class (Locobase 8078). The latter locomotives used larger cylinders than the one found in this design and suffered from high fuel consumption as a result.

The XII H2 introduced smaller cylinders and compensated for the smaller piston area by significantly reducing the driver diameter. Thus, tractive effort remained substantially the same. The smaller drivers contributed to a compact design that had a Belpaire firebox; its nickname was "Rollwagen" (truck) . (To Locobase's eyes, the result bears a resemblance to a Pennsylvania Railroad Lines Wayyy East G.)

The design was built over a period of 13 years and included 10 that were built under the DRG's aegis after its formation. Moreover, the Rollwagen continued in East German service up to the very end of steam.

Class XII HV / BR 17.7 (Locobase 8077)

Data from Christian Lindecke's Lokodex site ([].., last accessed 5 January 2007) and the Wikipedia entry on this class. Supplemented by [], last accessed 13 May 2011.

Locobase 8076 describes the first design in this series of Saxon Schnellzuglokomotiven. As we noted, supplying live steam to all four cylinders proved too much for the XII H's boiler and grate. So the designers retained the boiler, beefed it up to permit 15-bar pressures and changed the cylinder layout to a four-cylinder compound arrangement with the HP inside, LP outside and all still driving on the front axle.

This was the preferred option among the three XIIs developed and 42 were delivered in 1908-1914. Fairly soon after their introduction, the connecting pipe between the two steam domes was removed, in large part because it leaked. Also, the railway removed the "wind-cutter" streamlining, which had contributed as much to reducing drag as would fender skirts on a pickup truck.

There was a trade-off in the choice of compounding over simple-expansion. Although fuel and water consumption dropped noticeably, the Verbunds were rated at 270 tons at speed over the steeper sections of the line, less than the ratings of the simples.

After World War One, three (12, 44 & 49) went to France as reparations. 36 ran under the DRG BR 17.7 class rating, some as late as 1936.