Magyar Allamvasutak 2-6-2 Locomotives in Hungary

Class 324.544 - Brotan (Locobase 11215)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; "MAV IIIu" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022; and Skice I Glavni , p 20.

After the MAV delivered 355 compounds and 143 simple-expansion and superheated 324 locomotives (Locobases 1557-1558). they produced another 397 Brotan-boilered variants (see Locobase 1580 for a description of this unusual, but quite successful, vessel that followed a different set of rules from the traditional "Stephenson" boiler.

324.544-845 followed in 1915-1923 (although some may have had normal boilers, according to Durrant). The Hungarian War Office procured 95 more Brotan-boilered engines in 1916. Still more were built as 324.1500s.

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Class 342 (Locobase 1564)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; Skice I Glavni , pp. 12-18; and "MÁV-Baureihe 342" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022. Also, [] . Henschel built 145 and the Budapest works 150. Most of these were Brotan-boilered engines, a boiler design described in more detail in Locobase 1580. Only a few were completed with a normal firebox. The class was immediately successful and served for years both in Hungary and also in Romania (recipient of 109 after the 1918 Armistice) and Yugoslavia (86).

The models/342 has these comments about the 342: "Unfortunately, the redesigned Brotan boiler kept the external sizes of the original copper boiler, and this resulted a rather small steam production and reservoir area, compared to the cylinder volume. As a consequence the steam pressure of these engines was very unstable, worsened by the frequent stop-start feature of the commuter trains."

He adds as an interesting sidelight on the men involved: "The firemen of these locos should have been very experienced people to be able to keep the timetable."

The Slovenia Railway Museum's website -- [] (March 2002) -- agreed, adding that other than the undersized boiler, "...she is an excellent loco, much loved by personnel." In Slovenia the class operated on many local lines from 1928 to the end of steam. Some of these lines were Jesenice - Planica, Jesenice - Nova Gorica - Sezana / Ajdov_cina, Ljubljana - Novo mesto - Metlika, Grosuplje - Kocevje, Maribor - Prevalje and Maribor - Pragersko - Kotoriba.

Increasing the coal capacity meant exceeding the 14.5 metric ton axle loading, so engines built to that standard became Class 315.

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Class IIIs/322 (Locobase 1556)

Based on the successful 203-class Atlantics, these were dual-service engines. "Though powerful and useful locomotives," says A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc, "they were over-elaborate for a general purpose type." P[eter] M[ichael] Kalla-Bishop, Hungarian notes that they were overweight for their intended service, which had specified an axle loading of 14.42 metric tons (31,790 lb). So they were limited to two lines of service to Vienna and the Vag Valley.

12 that entered Czech service after the 1918 Armistice were rebuilt as 2-cylinder simples. When they returned to the MAV in 1939, they were, Kalla-Bishop remarks, "much better locomotives than when they left."

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Class IIIt/323 (Locobase 5032)

P[eter] M[ichael] Kalla-Bishop, Hungarian comments that given Hungarian reluctance to accept any Austrian notions of good engine design, "...it was indeed a desparate need that led Janos Papp, the engineer responsible, to order an Austrian locomotive type." The emergency arose when the lighter main lines in Hungary couldn't bear the 15.6-metric ton axle loading of the home-grown 322 class Prairies.

The first 25 of these Golsdorf compounds went to work on the Nagyvarad to Kolozsvar and Segesvar to Brasso lines. the second batch toiled over the Dombovar-Zagrab-Cameralmoravica route.

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Class IIIu/324 (Locobase 1558)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; "MAV TV" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022; Skice I Glavni , pp. 35; and Peter M Kalla-Bishop, Hungarian Railways (New York: Drake Publishers, 1973), pp.100-101.

This is one of the most numerous Hungarian locomotive classes; altogether 895 class 324 locomotives came out of Budapest between 1909-1923. The variant shown here--324.401-543--used conventional boilers, simple-expansion cylinders, and superheaters in 1914-1915.

Some compound 324s (Locobase 1557) were converted to the same design.

See Locobase 11215 for the Brotan-boilered variant.

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Class IIIu/324 compound (Locobase 1557)

Data from "MAV IIIu" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 25 December 2021. See also A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966); P[eter] M[ichael] Kalla-Bishop, Hungarian Locomotives (NY: Drake Publishers, 1973). and [], last accessed 16 April 2010.

324 class locomotives, taken altogether, constituted one of the most numerous classes in Europe. This first version used cross-compounding cylinders.

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Class TV/375 compound (Locobase 1567)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; "MAV TV" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022; and Skice I Glavni , pp. 36-40. (For works numbers, see [], last accessed 4 October 2022.)

Branch-line locomotives that served usefully for decades. The first 151 were delivered as cross-compounds. Locobase notices the unusual feature in these engines of a low-pressure cylinder was smaller in diameter than the cylinder stroke. Yet the HP/LP ratio fell in the "sweet spot" preferred by compound advocates. Durrant described these as a modern design, noting the use of piston valves.

Some were later rebuilt as simple-expansion engines and put in a class designated 375.1500.

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Class TV/375 simple (Locobase 1568)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; "MAV TV" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022; and Skice I Glavni , pp. 36-40.

These engines were the simple-expansion, superheated versions of the compounds that had entered service a few years earlier. Brotan-boilered, a boiler design described in more detail in Locobase 1580.

The 375 simples were in production off and on for decades until 1959 as their size fitted them ideally for Hungarian branch-line operations.

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Class TVa/376 compound (Locobase 1569)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; "MAV TV" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022; and Skice I Glavni , pp. 35.

Following on from the successful TV./375 design (see Locobases 1567-1568), the MAV identified certain branch lines with rails too light to take even the 375s. They reduced the weight to achieve an axle loading of 9 tons per axle and the TVa were the resu lt. Later produced as simple-expansion superheated engines (Locobase 1570) in addition to 49 of the compounds converted to the same specification.

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Class TVa/376 simple (Locobase 1570)

Data from A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot, Devonshire: David & Charles, 1966), pp. 30-31; "MAV TV" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 4 October 2022; and Skice I Glavni , pp. 34. (For works numbers and subsequent users,see [], last accessed 4 October 2022.

Lightweight Prairie tanks built in large quanties in both compound and simple-expansion, conventional and Brotan boilers (the latter described in more detail in Locobase 158). 376.401-483 were normal, 384-591 (1915-1923) had Brotan boilers, the remainder (1940s) had normal boilers.