Hellenic State 2-10-2 Locomotives in Greece

Class M alpha (Locobase 1521)

Data from [], translated by Google. Breda and Ansaldo split the order, building ten locomotives each.

Huge engines used between Salonika and Athens for both passenger and freight service. As delivered, the locomotives presented enough problems that the Hellenic Railways had to contract with Henschel two years later for twenty new boilers suitable for oil firing. It's not clear when they were fitted with their Worthington 3 SAE feed water heaters.

Even so, Ziel and Eagleson (1973) observe that the contract with Breda and Ansaldo put the design of such large locomotives in the hands of builders who'd never attempted anything like this size before: "The result was predictable: the firebox was woefully inadequate and the big 2-10-2s were always short of steam.Their weight, already at the limit, precluded the necessary modifications that would have brought the engines up to full potential ...although some improvements were made."

The authors conclude that these engines lasted to the end of steam largely because no one would admit what a mistake they'd been.