4-6-2 Steam Locomotives in Germany

Class Group IV f1/BR 18.2 (Locobase 2532)

Data from Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Dampflokomitven website at [], last accessed 18 June 2016. See also Albert H Bone, "Some Recent Designs of Locomotives for Service on Continental Railways", Cassier's Magazine, 1910, pp. 561-609.

One of several designs by Maffei's Anton Hammel, this stylish-looking class had a bar frame, all four cylinders driving the second axle (the inside cylinders mounted higher to clear the first axle), and a wide firebox with the forward lower wall raked forward to spread out the weight. Note that the strokes were of different lengths.

On the level, one engine pulled 460 tons at 69.5 mph. Up a 1.67% grade this design pulled 194 tons at 34.5 mph.

Alas, says Reder (1974), "...contradictory operational requirements had led to the adoption of a driving wheel ... too small for the sustained fast running in the Rhine flatlands and led to too much stress on the motion." Also, they weren't exemplary steamers, so they were scrapped soon after the German National Railroads were formed.

Class Group IV f2/BR 18.2 (Locobase 20075)

Data from Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Dampflokomitven website at [], last accessed 18 June 2016.

Locobase describes the Anton Hammel design as built by Maffei in 1907. That manufacture only produced three engines before turning over licensed production to Karlsruhe, which produced the balance of 32 locomotives in three batches. The IVf2 constituted the largest single order of twenty engines and first appeared in 1908.

Class Group IV f3/BR 18.2 (Locobase 20076)

Data from Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Dampflokomitven website at [], last accessed 18 June 2016.

A discussion of the Anton Hammel design appears in the first of four entries at Locobase 2352. The current record shows the third batch, in which Karlsruhe used a slightly modified boiler layout that reduced the tube diameter slightly and increased its count.

Class Group IV f4/BR 18.2 (Locobase 20077)

Data from Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Dampflokomitven website at [], last accessed 18 June 2016.

A discussion of the Anton Hammel design appears in the first of four entries at Locobase 2352. The current record shows the fourth batch, which completed the Karlsruhe effort. Gieseler's data shows that the flue diameter decreased by 4 mm.

Class IV h / BR 18 3 (Locobase 6020)

Data from US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book -- German Locomotives supplied from the extensive collection of Allen Stanley (March 2004), amended with data from Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 19 June 2016, and Christian Lindecke's [] ... (visited 2 May 2004).

The Bad.St.B needed more powerful locomotives for its Upper Rhine expresses between Basel, Switzerland and Kassel. Maffei's version of a de Glehn compound won the bid. As in all such de Glehns, the HP cylinders were inside and drove the front axle, the outside LP cylinders worked the second set. Locobase notes that this class had a larger grate area (by at least 12%) than any other German Pacific.

The exigencies of World War I meant that only the first 3 in the class were delivered in 1918, but the other 17 followed shortly thereafter. (Nine - 18 311- 18 319 -- in 1919, eight -- 18 321-18 328 -- in 1920). When the DRG was formed in 1925, all 20 were grouped in the same class. A 1933 upgrade to the braking system permitted 140 km/h (87 mph) maximum speeds.

Although all but one survived World War II, the class didn't last much longer with most being retired by 1948.