Th17
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KkStB 5437, ex MGB 332, Wiener Neustadt 2987/1885. Location unknown, probably
before 1900. Source: www.commons.wikimedia.org.
This engine later went to PKP,
but its service number is unknown.
Side drawing of the ČSD
class 313.1 with class 309.0 tender. Source: EZ
vol. 1.
KkStB 5111 (WLF 265/1879), location and date
unknown. Originally built for K.k. Staatsbahn Tarvis-Pontafel
and numbered 200, this engine was later re-numbered 5441 and then 54.41. After the war taken
over by PKP,
service number unknown (withdrawn before 1931). Source: Die Lokomotive
March 1930.
ČSD 324.362 (ex Buschtěhrader
Eisenbahn
243, Wiener Neustadt 4196/1899) already taken over by DRG, but
still with ČSD number. Re-numbered 53 7532, it was returned after the war and went to
industry in September 1952. Photo taken in Obernitz, probably in 1939. A
single locomotive of this type became Th17-1 for a short time after WWII.
Source: Eisenbahnen im Sudetenland (see References).
ČSD 324.337, another ex-Buschtěhrader
Eisenbahn
engine, originally numbered 218 (Wiener Neustadt 3523/1891. It remained in
service until January 1961. Lužna, Czechoslovakia, 1960. The locomotive on
the right is 310.096, ex-kkStB 97.197 (BMMF 66/1901). Photo from my
collection. |
After
WWI Polish state railways PKP
received considerable number of Austrian light freight locomotives with the 0-3-0
axle arrangements, many of them previously operated by various private
railways. These mostly elderly and weak engines were suitable only for
secondary lines and quickly disappeared from the company’s rosters. Initially
they retained their original service numbers. In accordance with the new
system, which came into use in 1926, they were assigned class designations in
the range from Th11 to Th24. In several cases assignment of individual
designations to locomotive types is not known, as they were represented by
few examples and soon withdrawn due to obsolescence. One of the most numerous
was the Kaiserlich-königliche österreichische
Staatsbahnen (KkStB) class 54, which became PKP class Th17. In
fact class 54 comprised locomotives initially built for as many as five
operators. Its design was based on that of the Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn class Vd (later KkStB class 51). The first customer was Mährisch-Schlesische Centralbahn
(MSCB), which commenced operation
in 1872. This company received fourteen examples, built by WLF (Floridsdorf) in 1872 and 1873
and numbered 1 through 14. In 1895 MSCB
was nationalized and these engines became KkStB 5450 through 5463, later
54.50 through 54.63. In 1873 Kronprinz Rudolfs-Bahn (KRB)
received six locomotives, also from WLF,
plus one more in 1877. They were numbered 130 through 142 (only even numbers)
and after nationalization in 1884 became KkStB 5104 through 5110, later
5441 through 5447 and finally 54.41 through 54.47. Next two numbers were
assigned to engines operated by K.k.
Staatsbahn Tarvis-Pontafe, built by WLF
in 1879 and initially numbered 200 and 202. In 1884 Galizische Transversalbahn took delivery of 36 locomotives,
numbered 1111 through 1144, 1147 and 1148, built by WLF (20), Wiener Neustadt
(six) and Borsig (ten). Later they
were re-numbered 5401 through 5436, then 54.01 through 54.36. Finally in 1885
Wiener Neustadt built two more
engines for this operator (1151 and 1152, then 5439 and 5440, finally 54.39
and 54.40) and two for Mährische Grenzbahn
(MGB), nationalized in 1895 (332
and 333, then 5437 and 5438, finally 54.37 and 54.38). This gives the total
of 63 examples. Locomotives built for various operators differed in certain
details; basically three variants can be distinguished. All were given
individual names. They were coupled with a variety of two- or three-axle
tenders. PKP took over most of these
already obsolete locomotives: all but one from Galizische Transversalbahn (which ran within new Polish
borders), all but two from MSBC,
four from KRB, both from MGB and one from K.k. Staatsbahn Tarvis-Pontafe, which makes 55 examples.
Czechoslovakian railways ČSD
received five, classed 313.1; of these, 313.102 (WLF 126/1873), former KRB
138 ’Steg’, then 54.45, survived until 1948 as the last engine of this type
in use. BBÖ kept only 54.51, former
MSCB 2 (WLF 59/1872), withdrawn in 1925. Single examples went to Romanian
CFR (withdrawn before 1934) and
Italian FS (217.001, withdrawn in
1923). According to KT, all Polish
engines were written off before 1924. However, official list of locomotive
types, issued by the Ministry of Transport in 1927, gives 22 examples still
in service. They were withdrawn before 1931 and assignment of PKP service numbers to individual
examples is unknown. No locomotive of this type has been preserved. After
WWII designation Th17-1 was assigned to ex-DRG 53 7405. This engine was originally built for Buschtěhrader Eisenbahn by Wiener Neustadt (s/n 3393/1890,
service number 196) and later became ČSD
324.316. It was impressed into DRG
in 1939 and withdrawn in 1943. It is doubtful if it ever saw any use with PKP before being transferred to Przeworsk sugar plant. Main technical data
1)
kkStB 54.01
through 40 and 54.60. 2)
kkStB 54.41
through 49. 3)
kkStB 54.50
through 59 and 54.61 through 63. 4)
Weights and dimensions with the class 9C13 (kkStB class 12)
tender. References
and acknowledgments
-
www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik
(website by Josef Pospichal); -
www.lokomotive.de/lokomotivgeschichte/datenbank
(Ingo Hütter’s database); -
TK vol. 2, LP, EZ
vol. 1, ITFR; -
Eisenbahnen
im Sudetenland by Siegfried Bufe and Heribert Schröpfer (Eisenbahn-Kurier e. V., 1975). |
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