Tr12
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Tr12-25, photographed at the Chabówka loco
depot on
…and at the same location almost a year later, on
This photo of Tr12-25 was taken by Wojtek
‘Mundek’ Nowak in Kraków on
…and this one by the same author at Kraków
railway station on
On Exactly three months later, on July 29, a
similar locomotive gala was organized by the Chabówka railway stock heritage
park – some photos are here.
Tr12, original version from WLF; side drawing by Z.Ko³oda (source:
KMD vol.1/2007).
Tr12-25 at the 15th Steam
Locomotive Show, Wolsztyn,
JŽ 25-026 (WLF
2656/1920) began its service life as 270.164 and later served with FS
as 728.028. This engine can be seen at the railway museum in Lublana; photo
taken on June 18, 2009.
ÖBB 156.3423 (ex BBÖ 270.125, WLF
2617/1920) is a Reko version with Giesl-type steam exhaust. This engine can
be seen at the Heizhaus Strasshof; photo taken on June 20, 2009.
Tr12-25 inside the shed: Chabówka, September
6, 2009. |
Between
1897 and 1919 Austrian manufacturers (Wiener Neustadt, WLF, StEG, BMMF, Breitfeld
Danìk and Krauss Linz) supplied 837 class 170 locomotives,
intended mainly for heavy freight traffic (tractive effort of 11.6 tonnes). This
type had been designed by Karl Gölsdorf, who favored saturated steam and
compound engines. 170s were good steamers (heating surface of 250 sq.m) and
powerful engines, achieving 920 kW during tests. After WWI their production
was resumed in Czechoslovakia, further 71 examples being delivered until
1922. They remained in service until 1970s. Considerable number of these
locomotives, classed Tr11, served with PKP
(they are described under a
separate entry). Despite
good performance of class 170, heavy freighters running on saturated steam
were already becoming an anachronism, so Gölsdorf decided to reconstruct this
locomotive with single-expansion engines and steam superheating. After his
death in 1916 this reconstruction was completed by his successor, Johann
Rihosek. Distance between tube plates was reduced by 500 mm and twin steam
domes connected with a horizontal tube, typical for many Austrian engines,
were replaced by a single one. Frame and motion gear remained virtually
unchanged. This modernization improved economy and slightly increased
tractive effort. Further
history of this locomotive turns out to be quite complicated. New machine was
accepted by KkStB in 1917 and
designated class 270. First orders were placed with BMMF (or PÈM, after its
Czech name) of Prague, but this factory supplied only seven examples –
starting with 650/1917 – before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Eighth machine, 270.8, rolled out on November 28, 1918, was the very first
new locomotive built for newly-formed Czechoslovakian state railways ÈSD (original service numbers were
initially retained). Austrian factories, Wiener Neustadt and WLF (aka Floridsdorf),
undertook production of these locomotives only in 1919, both for new Austrian
state railways BBÖ (100 examples)
and for export, although initially there were no foreign orders and engines
were built at manufacturers’ risk (but all of them were given consecutive KkStB service numbers!). They were
purchased by Czechoslovakia (eight), Italy (35, FS class 728), Poland (84), Romania (five) and SHS (later
Yugoslavia – nine, JDŽ class 25) Class
270 had higher tractive effort than its predecessor and consumption of coal
and water was reduced; steam generation was, however, somehow insufficient
and there were problems with boiler priming. These deficiencies were not
ignored, particularly in Czechoslovakia, where several attempts to optimize
boiler design were made. After building 91 machines and purchasing further
seven from WLF (ÈSD service numbers 270.01 to 96,
270.98 and 270.99 – later re-designated 434.101 to 198), it was decided to
reduce the number of flues from 173 to 162, with corresponding heating
surface reduction. First modernized example was supplied by WLF (s/n 2784/22, 270.288, later
434.199), but I don’t know whether these changes were also incorporated in
engines built in Austria for other customers; it was followed by 32 examples
built in Czechoslovakia (270.300 to 331, later 434.1100 to 1131). In order to
improve steaming capacity and eliminate boiler priming, twin steam domes with
horizontal connecting tube were re-introduced from 270.320 onwards. 14
engines built by Breitfeld-Danĕk between 1925 and 1926 (434.1132
to 1145) had completely redesigned boilers with 27 flues and 110 smoke tubes,
evaporating surface being reduced to 137.7 m2 and superheater
surface increased to 60.1 m2. Finally, in 1930, ÈKD (successor to Breitfeld-Danĕk)
delivered 20 machines (434.1146 to 1165) with Metcalfe injectors, electric
lighting and modified cabs. In all, ÈSD
had 157 machines built by Czech factories and eight from WLF. Last two were withdrawn in 1974. Romania,
having purchased five examples from WLF,
ordered further 27 from French factory Schneider & Cie and 100
from Škoda (the latter, and possibly all, corresponded to the
modernized variant with 162 flues, but single steam dome – all machines with
twin domes were built by Breitfeld-Danĕk and ÈKD). All 132 locomotives were delivered between 1920 and 1922
and classed 140.220. They served mainly in northern Moldova and often ran
with passenger trains. From early 1960s onwards they were replaced by class
060DA diesels and survived in service until 1978; last example was scrapped
in 1998. Eight were built between 1928 and 1930 by Magyar Királyi
államvasutak gépgyára of Budapest for DSA
(Duna-Szava-Adria) railway and classed 140. In 1932, DSA was absorbed by state railways MÁV and these engines were re-classed
403. During WWII, MÁV acquired
further 19 examples from Czechoslovakia and one from Poland (ex Tr12-91,
which arrived with an evacuation train); most of them were returned shortly
after the war. Several (four?) examples, taken over by MÁV after the war, went to Albania in 1948 (according to some
sources, they were handed over by JDŽ). In
all, production of this type can be summed up as follows: - Austria: 241; -
Czechoslovakia: PÈM – 78, Škoda
– 120, Breitfeld-Danĕk – 39, ÈKD
– 20; 257 in all; - Hungary: Magyar
Királyi államvasutak gépgyára – 8; - France: Schneider – 27; - Poland: WSABP – 58. This gives the grand
total of 591 examples, but this is only my sum-up based on available sources. Class
270, with comparatively high tractive effort and moderate axle load of only
14.5 tonnes, was well suited to Polish conditions immediately after WWI,
especially in southern and south-eastern areas. Austrian factories had
considerable numbers of these locomotives at hand and could supply them in a
short time on favorable terms, so contracts were soon agreed with WLF for 82 examples, classed Tr12.
Further two were supplied by Wiener
Neustadt. It was also decided
to produce these locomotives in Poland at WSABP
(aka Parowóz) of Warsaw, although most sub-assemblies were in fact
imported from Austria, at least initially. First machine assembled in Warsaw
(Tr12-66) was rolled out in December 1923 and production lasted until 1927,
totaling 58 examples. Polish-built engines differed in several details; they
had slightly larger superheaters, modified cabs, Westinghouse brakes and
higher smokestacks without large, drum-type spark arresters. As heavy freight
traffic was soon taken over by more powerful Tr20s and later Ty23s, these
machines were used mainly in southern Poland, where their advantages could be
used to the full. In 1931 all 142 examples were based there. About 20 Tr12s,
based in Lwów, were converted to oil firing. In
1939 most Tr12s (most probably 106) were captured by the Soviets and
converted to 1524 mm track; according to LOZD, 92 examples were
converted until July 10, 1940. Ex-PKP engines
retained their original numbers, but these were painted on cabs in Russian
script. Soviets acquired further locomotives of this type after annexation of
Bukovina in June 1940. Germans captured 35 examples and, together with
Austrian and Czechoslovakian ones, classed them 5634-35. Ex-PKP engines were re-numbered 56 3501
through 3533; two examples that served with Ostbahn retained their original numbers. In 1941, some Soviet
engines fell into German hands; nine were given DRG service numbers (56 3538 through 56 3546), some more probably
served with Ostbahn with original
numbers. After WWII Polish railways initially regained 22 machines, of which
only 10 served with PKP before 1939. Some more pre-war Polish Tr12s
were returned later. Two (Tr12-22 and Tr12-126), impressed into ÈSD service, were returned in 1949 and
1950; five more remained in Czechoslovakia and there is no trace of their
subsequent service with ÈSD,
although they were allocated service numbers. On the other hand, four ex-ÈSD machines, which served with MÁV during the war and somehow made
their way to Poland, were not assigned PKP
service numbers and returned to Czechoslovakia in March 1948. Eleven were
returned by ÖBB between 1947 and
1948, one by JDŽ in 1949 and one by MÁV in 1953. Finally, in 1955, twenty engines were returned by DR,
but all were in very poor condition and only two were repaired; the rest
ended up as scrap. In all, 39 engines of that type were impressed into PKP service and given new service
numbers. Initially Tr12s were based in Warsaw, Gdañsk and Kraków and used
mainly with light freight trains. Post-war modifications were typical and
included steel fireboxes, normalized injectors and compressors and slightly
modified cabs. Some engines were fitted with electric lighting. Later, most
Tr12s were shifted to secondary duties and switching. Last examples, Tr12-1
(ex 270.225) and Tr12-5, were withdrawn in 1969. Few were subsequently used
as stationary boilers, surviving in this role until 1973. Tr12-25
(pre-war Tr12-58), withdrawn in 1966, spent some years in Przemyœl and
Tarnowskie Góry before being transferred to the Railway Museum in Warsaw.
After 20 years there, it was overhauled in 1993 and restored in service.
Based in Chabówka, it is still sometimes used with tourist trains. Virtually
all Polish sources claim that this machine was built by WLF for stock in 1921 (s/n 2742) and initially designated
270.246, but recent research by Austrian railway historians has revealed that
in fact this is WLF 2696/1920,
initially 270.203. According to Josef Pospichal (thanks a lot!), 2742/1921
served with BBÖ as 270.246, then
with DRG as 56 3475 and after WWII
was taken over by JDŽ, to become
25-015. According to the monographic article by Bogdan Pokropiñski (KMD vol.1/2007), this mismatch has resulted
from the fact that, during the war, Tr12-58 served in Austria and was fitted
with the boiler from 2742/1921 during an overhaul. This source, however,
gives that Tr12-58 was WLF 2965/1921,
initially 270.209. Be it as it was, Tr12-25, in perfect condition and fitted
with beautiful Rihosek spark arrester, is one of the most precious steam
locomotives preserved in Poland and currently the only operational machine of
Austrian origin. Apart
from Polish machine, ten examples have survived until today, most of them
(six) in Slovenia, the rest in Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Albania.
One of Slovenian engines is owned by the Trieste railway museum. Czech
machine is particularly worth mentioning, as this is the very first
locomotive built by Škoda, s/n 1/1920 (ÈSD 270.300, later 434.1100). This historical loco, based at
Lužna u Rakovníka and formally owned by the National Technical Museum, is in
working order and often hauls special trains. All ten preserved locomotives
of this type represent the original variant with single steam dome. Main technical data
1) Including
58 machines assembled in 2) Boiler
characteristics refer to engines built by WSABP
(data in brackets for original Austrian variant). 3) Modified
variants built in 4) Some
fitted with Knorr brakes after 1945. References and acknowledgments
Monographic
article by Bogdan Pokropiñski was published in KMD vol.1/2007. Technical and historical accounts can be found at
www.parowozy.best.net (website
maintained by ‘Doctor’), PNPP and EZ. Information on preserved examples
has been taken from EDÖ. |
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