Magyar Allamvasutak 4-6-0 Locomotives in Hungary

Class 327 (Locobase 1561)

Data from A E Durrant The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966), pp 29, 40.

Originally procured as a thirteen-simple, two-compound trial batch, the design proved quite successful and 125 more were produced as simple engines in 1913-1914. "Although rather frail in appearance," wrote Durrant,"the 327s are in fact quite powerful engines and have a deep, hefty exhaust to prove it."

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, 61 were transferred to Romania, 32 to Yugoslavia, and 22 to Czechoslovakia. 25 remained in Hungary.

Class 328 (Locobase 1562)

Data from A E Durrant The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966), pp 30, 40. , supplemented by "4-6-0 Type Locomotive on Hungarian Railways" Locomotive (January 1923).

Brotan-boilered improvement over the already competent 327, these engines had a wider firebox for more steam, larger cylinders, and straight cylinder ports. The Pecz-Rejto feedwater heater was credited with 19.1 sq m (205.6 sq ft ) of surface area.

The steam pipes ran outside the smokebox from the superheater to the cylinders and, Durrant comments, "with the sharply V'd cab and conical smokebox door so typical of Hungary, gave the engines an unmistakeably proud, gaunt, yet rakish air." A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc. Its design goal was to pull 400 trailing tons at 50 mph (80 km/h). Up a 0.7% grade, the engine could haul 470 tons at 31 mph (50 km/h).

Class Ih/320 (Locobase 1554)

Data from A E Durrant The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966), pp 25, 40.

Outside-framed, these powerful engines hauled passenger trains in the Transylvania Mountains. According to P[eter] M[ichael] Kalla-Bishop, Hungarian Railways (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1973), these engines soon moved from the Fiume line to the Salgotarjan-Ruttka route and the Vag Valley line.

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, 8 were transferred to Romania (where they had long operated in Transylvania) while only one remained in Hungary.

Class Ik/321 (Locobase 1555)

Data from P[eter] M[ichael] Kalla-Bishop, Hungarian Railways (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1973); and A E Durrant The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe (Newton Abbot:David & Charles, 1966), pp 29, 40.

Inside-frame two-cylinder compound that joined the 320 class on the Fiume and Salgotarjan-Ruttka lines.

After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, eight were transferred to Romania while ten remained in Hungary.

Class Vauclain compound (Locobase 10372)

Data from "Hungarian State Railways," Railway Notes, The Locomotive Magazine, Vol IX (19 September 1903)., p.174.

Almost all Vauclain compound locomotives were built by the Baldwin company in Philadelphia - their distinctive feature was the arrangement of all four cylinders "in battery", as some commentators have described a 4-abreast layout, and, more important, the use of a single valve to supply live steam to the HP cylinder and that cylinder's exhaust to the adjacent LP cylinder. The system could admit live steam to all 4 cylinders for starting power.

The locomotive in this entry was produced in Hungary with a large grate to burn "brown" (i.e., low-calorie) coal. Its compounding ratio was way out of kilter compared to most compounding setups - which usually fell well above 2:1 -- and gave the LP cylinder too much steam for it to usefully handle.