Geneva tramway 0-4-0 Locomotives in Switzerland

Class 858 (Locobase 7398)

Data from Titre Exposition universelle internationale de 1878 a Paris. Rapports du jury internationale..Volume Groupe VI - Classe 64. Rapport sur le materiel des chemins de fer. p. 56 (cnum.cnam.fr/CGI/fpage.cgi?8XAE277-11.1/54/100/312/0/0 (accessed 1 September 2005) table.

Also see [] -- the Trams of Geneva website (accessed 22 Jan 2006).

The latter site tells us that this tram motor was a big hit at the 1878 Exposition and was the Geneva system's #1. The technical data differ given in the Geneva account differ to some extent. The piston diameter is given as 160 mm (6.3"), the heating surface 11.7 sq m. (126 sq ft), and the operating weight 7.7 tonnes (16,976 lb). The writer notes that the first machine was a trial horse and was later joined by 7 more motors. It is likely that the data in his account refers to those later locomotives.

Whatever the actual numbers (Locobase chooses the contemporaneous Jury values), the tramway management found that the steam tram had the same operating expenses per km as a 2-horse tram while pulling not just one but two or three trailing coaches.

By 1894, electrification of the tram network meant the retirement of these little mules.