Alta Italia / Torino-Novara 0-4-2 Locomotives in Italy

Class 169/271 (Locobase 20610)

Data from Ferrovie Dell' Alta Italia, Album Delle Locomotive (Torino, 1o Luglio 1876), T25. Works numbers were 1171-1176 in 1857,

Locobase 20601-20602 describes two classes of 0-4-2s from Robert Stephenson & Co delivered in the mid-1850s. The 271 class continued the basic design that included a built-up firebox on a boiler that had the sandbox, steam dome, and stacked bunched at the very front. The firebox was enlarged as were the tube diameters, creating one of the largest 0-4-2s of the day.

The class was taken into the Rete Mediterranea (RM) network in 1885 and four went into the FS in 1905 as class 1125-1128.

Locobase found an inconsistencies between the given values for the tube diameters, tube lengths, and for the evaporative heating surface area given as 77.2 sq m. The EHS value shown in Locobase's specs is composed of the firebox heating surface area given in the diagram and the tube heating surface area calculated from the stated tube length, external tube diameter, and count.

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Class 210/FS 113 (Locobase 20598)

Data from Ferrovie Dell' Alta Italia, Album Delle Locomotive (Torino, 1o Luglio 1876), T19. See also "FS 113" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 7 July 2019; and Yibing Fang and Marco Ceccarelli, "Peculiarities of Evolution of Machine Technology and Its Industrialization in Italy during 19th Century", Advances in Historical Studies, 2015, 4, 338-355. Some of these locomotives were supplied to one of the predecessors to the SFAI, which consolidated them into a network in 1865.

Just a year after one of the Upper Italy railways took delivery of a rather unusual 2-4-0 from Ansaldo, the Italian builder began manufacturing this new arrangement. Used in Great Britatin for express locomotives, the 0-4-2 was not usually adopted in a low-drivered layout.

But the design included the Sampierdarena, the very first wholly Italian locomotive built by Ansaldo. Fang and Ceccarelli say that the company's design energy came from its namesake Giovanni Ansaldo. In designing the Sampierdarena and Alessandro, the authors note, Ansaldo "made a number of design adjustments to increase speed, to reduce fuel consumption, and to solve problems in the mountain railway routes." The footplate crew benefited from a weatherboard and a shallow roof.

The pair, which went to work on the Torin-Rivoli line of the Strade Ferrate dello Stato Piemontese (SFSP) proved very successful. That railway ordered at least six more and Alta Italia bought eighteen. Ferrovia Alessandria-Stradella bought four. These 30 all formed part of the SFAI's roster after 1865.

The Victor Emmanuel Railway, later the Società per le Strade Ferrate Calabro-Sicule (SFCS) contracted for ten more. Wikipedia reports tha the first three --Archimede, Diodoro and Novelli--"inaugurated the Palermo - Bagheria line, the first railway section on the island of Sicily, on 28 April 1863". This set of orders constituted about half of all of Ansaldo's output before 1880.

In another consolidation, the SFAI and the SFCS among others were gathered together under the Rete Mediterraneo (RM) in 1885. At that point the 40 engines were numbered consecutively. Although the 21 remaining locomotivers were placed in Gruppo 113 when the Ferro dello Stato (FS) national railway system was formed in 1905, the FS didn't keep them very long before sending them to the scrapyard.

Locobase found an inconsistencies between the given values for the tube diameters, tube lengths, and for the evaporative heating surface area given as 76.0 sq m. The EHS value shown in Locobase's specs is composed of the firebox heating surface area given in the diagram and the tube heating surface area calculated from the stated tube length, external tube diameter, and count.

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Class 217 (Locobase 20599)

Data from Ferrovie Dell' Alta Italia, Album Delle Locomotive (Torino, 1o Luglio 1876), T19bis. (For roster details, see Josef Pospichal's Lokstatistik at [], last accessed 15 August 2019.)

Locobase 20598 describes the large Ansaldo batch of 0-4-2s delivered to several Italian railways in 1855-1864. Thirty of them were taken into the SFAI when it absorbed their railways in 1865. In 1876, the Turin shops placed a new boiler and firebox on eight of their engines. The larger firebox moved the trailing axle 818 mm (32 1/4") further away from the second driven axle. Other changes included a smokebox deepened by 62 mm (2.44").

Locobase found an inconsistencies between the given values for the tube diameters, tube lengths, and for the evaporative heating surface area given as 83.0 sq m. The EHS value shown in Locobase's specs is composed of the firebox heating surface area given in the diagram and the tube heating surface area calculated from the stated tube length, external tube diameter, and count.

Locobase 20598 describes the large Ansaldo batch of 0-4-2s delivered to several Italian railways in 1855-1864. Thirty of them were taken into the SFAI when it absorbed their railways in 1865. In 1876, the Turin shops placed a new boiler and firebox on eight of their engines. The larger firebox moved the trailing axle 818 mm (32 1/4") further away from the second driven axle. Other changes included a smokebox deepened by 62 mm (2.44").

Locobase found an inconsistencies between the given values for the tube diameters, tube lengths, and for the evaporative heating surface area given as 83.0 sq m. The EHS value shown in Locobase's specs is composed of the firebox heating surface area given in the diagram and the tube heating surface area calculated from the stated tube length, external tube diameter, and count.

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Class 239 (Locobase 20600)

Data from Ferrovie Dell' Alta Italia, Album Delle Locomotive (Torino, 1o Luglio 1876), T20. NB: Locomotive supplied to one of the predecessors to the SFAI, which consolidated them into a network in 1865.

This Belgian quintet seems to have been based on the Ansaldos described in Locobase 20598. But the boiler held 18 fewer tubes of slightly larger diameter.

Locobase found an inconsistencies between the given values for the tube diameters, tube lengths, and for the evaporative heating surface area given as 76.0 sq m. The EHS value shown in Locobase's specs is composed of the firebox heating surface area given in the diagram and the tube heating surface area calculated from the stated tube length, external tube diameter, and count.

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Class 369 (Locobase 20617)

Data from Ferrovie Dell' Alta Italia, Album Delle Locomotive (Torino, 1o Luglio 1876), T32. NB: Locomotive supplied to one of the predecessors to the SFAI, which consolidated them into a network in 1865.

These were among the earliest locomotives of this wheel arrangement. The cylinders drove cranks outside the frames. Carrying the firebox behind the drivers meant a very short adhesion wheel base. All four remained in service in 1876.

Locobase found inconsistencies between the given values for the tube diameters, tube lengths, and for the evaporative heating surface area given as 66.55 sq m. The EHS value shown in Locobase's specs is composed of the firebox heating surface area given in the diagram and the tube heating surface area calculated from the stated tube length, external tube diameter, and count.