Saechsischen / Saxon Articulated Locomotives in Germany

Class Fairlie (Locobase 3632)

Fairlie type with a frame supporting a boiler, two fireboxes, and circular supports for the engine bogies. A surprising repeat order, according to [] . The earlier engines (II K delivered in 1885) had not been viewed as all that successful. The very tight curves found in the city itself, however, dictated the choice.

Wiener (1930) for data.

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Class Group I V / BR 55.60 (Locobase 3260)

Data from Gustav Reder (Michael Reynolds, trans), The world of steam locomotives (New York: Putnam, 1974), pl 327), supplemented by [], last accessed 12 May 2011.

Reder shows this typically fin-de-siecle freight hauler as an example of the Mallet, which was adopted over the Meyer type for its better performance.

In the photograph, one sees its small drivers are masked by the Walschaert gear. Ahead of the Belpaire firebox, square sandboxes flank a tall, cylindrical steam dome behind the spark-arresting stack.

Its tonnage ratings were

118 tons up a 2.5% grade at 16 mph

505 tons up a 1% grade at 16 mph.

930 tons up a 0.5% grade at 16 mph

560 tons at 22 mph

950 tons on the level at 28 mph

[] notes that this design was compared to the V series 0-6-0 and found somewhat wanting. Even so, the IVs remained in service for over 20 years with 13 of the class being taken into the DRG in 1923.

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Class I M / K44.10/99 16 (Locobase 10414)

Data from "'Fairlie' Double-Bogie Locomotive for Narrow Gauge," The Locomotive Magazine, Vol IX (28 November 1903), p. 309. See also Alfred Gieseler, "Lokomotiven der Baureihe 99 161-163" on his Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website entry at [], last accessed 10 February 2022. Works numbers were 2647-2649

This locomotive was developed for use on a street railway in Saxony. It featured the Fairlie double firebox. But this manifestation was somewhat unusual in being a compound locomotive. Both bogies, which had the cylinders located at the inside end, had shielding that could be pulled down over the action to avoid injuring pedestrians.

99 263 was withdrawn in 1942. The two tram locomotives that survived World War II served several decades longer. 99 261 was withdrawn from the Reichenbach shed on 9 Sept 1963. 99 262 remained at Reichenbach until 15 Sept 1972, when it was transferred to VM Dresden and renumbered 99 7162-3.

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Class IM / K44.10 / BR 99.161 (Locobase 3602)

Data from Wiener (1930) and [] . A German-built compound Fairlie must be an unusual combination. The cylinders were mounted on the inner ends of the two bogies, probably to shorten steam passage lengths.

[], a locomotive database visited 3 June 2005, shows works #2647-2649.

Operating between Reichenbach and Oberheinsdorf for decades, the last of the 3 locomotives was retired in 1963.

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Class ITV/L 44.15/BR 98.0 (Locobase 3598)

Data supplemented and confirmed from Alfred Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website entry at [] . See also US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book -- German Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange in March 2004.

Reder (1974) shows this development of the Jean Jacques Meyer articulated layout, which had the advantage of taking very sharp curves in restricted loading gauges. The difference is that the Mallet had its cylinders leading each engine set under the single boiler, while the Meyer put the cylinders next to each other between the bogies, the front set being the HP and rear set the LP cylinders.

In the photograph, one sees its small drivers are masked by the Heusinger gear. Square sandboxes flank a tall, cylindrical steam dome behind the spark-arresting stack. Also, one can see the larger LP piston behind the HP piston under the dome.

Its tonnage rating was 215 short tons up 2 1/2% at 20 kph.

The website for the Windbergbahn Railway ([]) says that these tank Meyers were used primarily on the Dresden-Possendorf line. It notes that ITV stands for I="B" locomotive (one with two axles per bogie), T=TenderLok (tank locomotive), and V="Verbundlok" (compound).

The website gives an interesting insight into such engines by noting: "The flexible steam-pipelines between high and low pressure cylinders as well as the complicated drive and control rods made the ITV very maintenance-intensive." The rod motion gave rise to nicknames such as Kreuzspinne (Cross Spider) and Heuwender (hay rotator (baler?)).

(NB: Data from the sources included a tube heating surface area as measured from the internal (fire side) diameter. The resulting 91.23 sq m, when added to the firebox heating surface area came to 97.98 sq m (1,055 sq ft). In the same data, the sources give the tube diameter as shown above, which is the external (water side) diameter. Locobase uses the external diameter to simplify comparison with other, non-Continental locomotives.)

After the First World War, the roster dropped to 15, which were divided among two Dresden stations. Eight Dresden Friedrichstadt engines pulled Dresden-Possendorf freights and switched the yard. Seven Dresden-Pieschen locomotives pulled freights and suburban commuter trains as well as switching the yard. By the end of World War II there were twelve left, which ran in some cases until 1966 because they were the only locomotives that could handle the tight, winding industrial railways on which they operated.

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Class IV K / K44.7 /BR 99.51-60 (Locobase 3599)

Data from [], which reproduced an East German locomotive diagram; and Alfred Gieseler, "Lokomotiven der Baureihe 99 595-608" on his Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 10 February 2022. See also Manfred Kopka at home.t-online.de/home/kopka.manfred/br9951.htm; Gustav Reder, The World of Steam Locomotive (1974), Lionel Wiener, Articulated Locomotives (1930). and for good photographs of a restoration, [] (last accessed 12 June 2010); and Rob Dickinson, "True Articulated Steam Locomotives Part 2--Articulated Locomotives with Two Engines and Transmission by Connecting Rods--Meyer Locomotives" on his International Steam website at [], last accessed 13 February 2022 (Thanks to Alexander Blessing for his 29 January 2022 email pointing out duplicated entries 4070 and 8040, which I deleted.)

According to Reder, this was the first Gunther-Meyer articulated to enjoy any real success, and even then their performance was regarded as mediocre. (Locobase 3601 gives some details about the differences between Gunther-Meyers and Mallets. Both engines swivelling on bogie centers and cylinders placed between the two and under the center of the boiler are key differences.)

They managed 135 tons of train up 2 1/2% grades, little better than the 0-6-0s they were compared to. Still, their ability to negotiate sharp curves increased the tonnage capacity of lines with tight clearances.

Kopka wrote that this design was intended for the 28 railways of the Saxon narrow-gauge network, which had extended a total of 520 km by 1920. Over the course of the 30 years that Hartmann supplied locomotives of this type, the design came with several boiler-pressure settings (from 12 bar to 15 bar) and weights. Data applies to the 1912 variant.

According to Ralf Mueller and John Oxlade's list, Hartmann supplied the locomotives as follows:

Year # of loks

1891 7 1908 12

1892 3 1909 2

1893 4 1910 7

1894 2 1912 14

1896 6 1913 6

1898 6

Undistinguished in design as they might have been, the class obviously filled the bill. Their relatively small size and simple machinery added appeal for German museums and heritage railways. Rob Dickinson explained the high survival rate: "They owe their long life not just to sound design and original construction but also to a rebuilding programme in the 1960s carried out at Görlitz. In fact little if any of the original locomotives is thought to have survived, the term 'rebuilding' being used as a programme to build new steam locomotives to a 70 year old design would never have been accepted by the powers that be!

As of 2022, 28 of the original 95 remained as displays or operating locomotives.

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Class MITV - 1891 (Locobase 3601)

Data from Gustav Reder, Wiener (1930). (Thanks to Alexander Blessing for his 29 January 2022 email pointing out the duplicate entry Locobase 8964, which I deleted.) Works numbers for this pair were 1658-165 in 1890.

A relatively small standard-gauge Gunther-Meyer articulated design, Reder (1974) says they were rated at 135 tons up a 2 1/2% grade, a rating he notes "was not much more than the standard six-coupled engine." So what was their value? "...[T]hey took the curves much better."

Principal differences between the Gunther-Meyer layout and the much more widely used Mallet articulated was the use of two pivoting engine bogies and cylinders located behind the leading set and ahead of the trailing set.

[] (23 October 2004) says these two were named "Raschau" and "Crottendorf" and were the standard-gauge inspiration for the widely distributed IV K narrow-gauge (750 mm) Gunther-Meyers to come. (See Locobase 3599).

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Class XV HT V / BR 79 (Locobase 8007)

Data from Christian Lindecke's German locomotive website [], accessed 14 December 2006 and supplemented by Wikipedia

This unusual locomotive was neither a Meyer nor a Mallet according to a knowledgeable German railroad forum ([], accessed 14 December 2006). The two sets of cylinders were positioned back-to-back in the middle of the frame and served both engines, the HP cylinders driving the rear set, the LP powering the front set The outermost driving axle in each set was a hollow Klien-Lindner design for greater flexibility.

The visual result is strikingly different for an articulated locomotive. The driver sets sat under the smokebox and firebox while the cylinders were grouped in the middle of the profile under the second steam dome. As on many other Saxon State locomotives, a pointed cap adorned the smokebox .

According to Wikipedia's account, the low axle loading, lack of crank axles and several other features were expected to result in a larger order for such locomotives. Indeed, WorldRailFans commenter Ali Koresch ( Post subject: Saxon State Rlwy ClassXV 0-6-6-0 T

PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2002 8:35 pm, [], last accessed 19 May 2010) noted that the "...locomotive running was surprinsingly good and quiet."The

Only these two were built, however, as maintenance costs proved onerous and, Locobase suspects, the boiler proved too small for the cylinder volume. Perhaps more important, according to Koresch: "The design flaw did not show up until some time after service: The wheel tread wear constantly changed the position of the crank pins, thus making it almost impossible to achieve synchronized operation between the four cylinders."

Both were taken into the DRG's system but were retired in the 1930s.

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Class XVI T (Locobase 5958)

Data from Christian Lindecke [] (26 Dec 2003).; and "Sächsische XVI T" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 21 October 2022.

For many years after Locobase first put in Christian Lindecke's data, he couldn't find any information in translation that told him this wasn't a small Mallet design. Wikipedia's account finally cleared things up.

A surge in traffic on Saxony's secondary standard-gauge rail network led to the railway's makeshift merger of two VII TS or VII TSV 0-4-0Ts into a double engine to deliver more tractive effort at the head of a train. A total of six locomotives--five simple-expansion VII TS and one VII TSV (V for Verbund or compound expansion)--were combined as follows:

1502 (the compound) and 1506 as 1496 A/B,

1507 and 1513 as 1499 A/B, and

1510-1511 as 1500 A/B.

Wikipedia states (in Google's translation) "it was known that such double locomotives could hardly represent a full replacement for four-coupled [sic - perhaps meaning four axles rathern than four wheels] locomotives." Moreover, the few available photographs suggest that both locomotives had crews, so "they could not have contributed to relieving the personnel situation." (Wikipedia does not comment on the potential for additional mischief caused by operating one simple-expansion and one compound-expansion locomotive together."

1499 A/B was separated first in 1918. The other two left service in 1922-1923.

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Class unknown (Locobase 3618)

This may be the same class described in Locobase under the Saxon State 0-4-4-0 entry of 1896 introduction date. The data in the present record is from Wiener (1930) and looks as if it may be a later batch with slightly larger HP cylinders.