Prussian State Articulated Locomotives in Germany

Class G9 (Locobase 5066)

See [] for data and comment. Additional data from American Engineer and Railroad Journal of August 1895 and diagram Loco: 100, Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques from locomotive book supplied by Dany Machi up at [] as Diagrammes des machines SACM construites a GRAFENSTADEN (October 2007).

A prototype was delivered in 1893 that differed from the production versions in having its steam pipes behind the steam dome. This class rode roughly and were hard on track. They also demanded a high level of maintenance (as did all Mallets, one suspects).

They carried on nevertheless. In 1910, four were rostered in Breslau, 10 in Kassel, 11 in ?, and two in Kattowiz. Two were taken up by the German armed forces in 1912 even as the rest were being replaced by more satisfactory locomotives. No G9s survived to be taken into the DRG in the mid-1920s

Class T15 (Locobase 6324)

Data from the table presented on pages 409, 411 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). Gustav Reder (Michael Reynolds, trans), The World of Steam Locomotives (New York: Putnam, 1974), pl 193.

Works numbers were 4484-4485 in 1895, 4775-4776, 4899-4909 in 1898; 4910-4911, 5244-5249 in 1899, 5344-5351 in 1900; 5545-5547 in 1901; 5958-5968, 6196-6197 in 1902; 6198-6203 in 1903; 6557-6567, 6833-6837 in 1904; 6911-6927, 7156-7162 in 1905.

Reder wrote that Christian Hagans's kinematic linkage drive was most widely adopted on the Prussian State for use in the Erfurt Railroad Region in Thuringen. Erfurt Chief Engineer Moritz Lochner's target performance was 200 tons up 3% grades at 9 1/2 mph/15.3 kph (18 1/2 mph/30 kph for 110 tons) while negotiating curves as tight as 200 meters radius.

(Christian Lindecke, in [] (27 October 2004) gave the metric all-up weight as 67,200 kg.).

NB: Tube heating surface area using the inside (fire side) diameter measured 129.14 sq m (1,390 sq ft); when combined with the direct heating surface area, the total came to 137.52 sq m. Locobase uses the external (water side) diameter to arrive at the higher number in the table.

The design divided the five driving axles into two groups. The front three were fixed in the frame while the rear two rode in a bolster that swivelled on a pin located in the main frame ahead of the leading axle. To drive all five axles, Hagans placed two swing levers in the frame and joined them at with a connecting rod. The piston crosshead moved the front lever, which then transmitted the motion to the rear pair through the connecting rod. The yoke holding the rear swing lever itself moved according to the displacement of the bolster in a curve and thus automatically adjusted.

Reder says the design was quite successful. Indeed, Henschel produced examples first in 1895 and in every year from 1898-1905 and the class operated until the last was broken up in 1925.