TKh12
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This ČSD
310.0118 – ex kkStB 97.27 –
is currently on display at the
TKh-6322, ex kkStB
97.254, at the steam machines heritage park in Repty,
Poland; photo taken on October 3, 2003…
…and another picture of the same engine, taken on
April 29, 2009.
Side drawing, early version; source: EZ
vol.1
Side drawing, later version; source – as
above
ČSD 310.006 (ex k.k.St.B 97.20), now at Jaromeř loco depot, Czech Republic
– still in working order…
… and original manufacturer’s plate on this
machine.
Poor, but very interesting photo of an
armored TKh12 from P.P.17 ‘Saper’ armored train;
source: http://republika.pl/derela -
thanks for permission!
310.037 (ex kkStB
97.98, StEG 2528/1896) is a part of the collection of Czech railway museum at Lužna u Rakovnika; photo taken on June 14, 2008.
Another engine from Lužna: 300.619 (ex BEB I.a 419, WLF 1633/1905), photographed on the same occasion. Note shorter
water-boxes.
KkStB
97.152 (Krauss
Linz 3822/1898) was
converted into a test engine by BBÖ
and re-designated 69.02. This explains the unusual axle arrangement. In this
form it is on display at the Heizhaus Strasshof; photo taken on June 20, 2009.
Poor, but
interesting pre-war photo of a TKh12 – number unknown, it seems there is no
designation. Probably this machine was used by a local railway, but no
details on date and location are available. Makeshift spark arrester is
noteworthy. Source: National Digital Archives (www.nac.gov.pl). Used by
permission.
JŽ
150-003, former kkStB 97.69 (StEG 2352/1893), dumped at the premises of the
Slovenian Railway Museum; Lublana, June 18, 2009.
Operational Czech
310.006 (ex KkStB 97.20, WrN
2371/1879), photographed at Neratovice on June 13, 1999. Postcard from my
collection.
97.73 (StEG 2404/1894), plinthed
in Linz, September 28, 1987. Photo by Ernst Wolf (from my collection). In
2001 this locomotive was transferred to Heizhaus
Strasshof.
ČSD 310.001 (Wiener
Neustadt 2782/1883), originally Dalmatiner
Staatsbahn 8, then kkStB
97.02, plinthed in Olomouc, Czech Republic, July
15, 2006. Photo by Michal Maňas (source: www.commons.wikimedia.org).
Beautifully
restored ČSD 310.076 (ex kkStB 19767, later 97.167, WLF 1295/1899), Lužna u Rakovnika,
Czech Republic, June 25, 2017. Photo by Herbert Ortner
(source: www.commons.wikimedia.org).
This locomotive was withdrawn in June 1957 and sold to a sugar plant. |
In
Austro-Hungary there was always a need for small, but comparatively powerful
tank engines for local and branch lines, many of them running in mountainous
regions with steep gradients. One of the most widespread machines for such
perhaps inglorious, but important duties was class 97, which appeared in
1883. It was a simple, three-axle single-expansion engine with water boxes
extended forwards up to the smoke-box door. Manufacture of this type, at Krauss
Linz, StEG, Wiener Neustadt, Floridsdorf and BMMF (aka PČM, after
its Czech name), lasted until 1911. According to data provided by Josef Pospichal (thanks a lot!), 228 examples were built, but
as one of them (97.19) was written off as early as in 1910, most sources –
e.g. EZ – give 227 machines. Several of them were supplied to local
operators, but most (after 1888, all) had kkStB
service numbers, so the conjecture that total number was higher, which can be
found in many sources, is erroneous. As the highest service number was
97.255, some sources give 255 as the total output. There
were some differences between individual machines. Early examples, up to
97.98 inclusive, had boiler axis at 1590 mm above track level; later boiler
was shifted 160 mm upwards in order to accommodate a larger ash box. Cab was
also slightly enlarged and overall length increased from 7799 mm to 7927 mm.
There were other minor variations, such as smokestack (initially fitted with
large drum-type spark arrester, typical for many Austrian locomotives,
sometimes removed in service), boiler domes, water boxes size and shape
(later enlarged from 3 to 4 sq.m), as well as
several boiler details. Class 97 proper had several derivatives, which
included: -
kkStB
class 197: 43 engines built between 1888 and 1905,
formerly KFNB class IX re-numbered after its incorporation into kkStB; they were slightly smaller and lighter, but
had boiler pressure increased to 12 bar and larger, 1000 mm drivers; -
kkStB
class 397: six engines built between 1881 and 1882 for Böhmische
Commerzialbahnen as class IIIS, with smaller
boiler; -
BEB (Buštěhrad
railway) class I.a: 22 engines, plus one more for Vojkovice-Kyselka local railway, built between 1890 and
1906, later impressed into ČSD service as class 300.6; they had
shorter water boxes and larger boilers with pressure increased to 12 bar. These
machines were still very useful after WWI, despite obsolescence of their
design. The majority went to Czechoslovak state railways (ČSD) –
initially 135 examples, designated class 310.0, plus several more (possibly
seventeen) for various local and industrial lines, with service numbers from
310.901 to 310.917 (three later incorporated into class 310.0). With growing
demands, due to increasing weight even of local trains, many were withdrawn
before WWII and sold to industry or scrapped. The last one – 310.097 – was
used for switching until 1968. Several machines served with Romanian railways
CFR (29 – designation unchanged) and Italian FS (19 – class
822). Three Italian machine were later taken over by Yugoslavian state
railways JDŽ (class 61, later re-classed 150). According to EDÖ,
certainly the most competent reference, nine machines have been preserved in
the Czech Republic (in mid-2006 three of them were kept in working order),
plus three more in Slovakia. Two examples are in Austria and one in Slovenia. After
WWI, Poland received thirteen (according to lists available at www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik)
engines of this type, classed TKh12. All of them, except TKh12-1, were of the
later version with elevated boiler; the latter machine was withdrawn as early
as 1923, so its service number was in fact assigned only formally and many
sources give a total of twelve examples. Most came from various local
railways within Polish borders after 1918. Apart from the above-mentioned
TKh12-1, they served with PKP until 1939. Few details on their service
record are available; most probably all were used in southern Poland on local
lines. Two served with the Kraków-Kocmyrzów local
railway (nationalized and incorporated into PKP in 1936), for which they had originally been built, in mixed
traffic. Another two ran between Tarnów and Szczucin (former Lokalbahn
Tarnów-Szczucin, or LTSz,
operated by state railways kkStB and taken
over by PKP in 1918); with increasing freight traffic they turned out
to be too weak and were withdrawn in 1931. According to a very interesting
Internet source (http://republika.pl/derela
– in English!), at least two class 97 locomotives were armored in late 1918
at the Zieleniewski factory in Cracow. One
was later used with the P.P.17 ‘Saper’ armored
train; unfortunately, service number of this machine is unknown, but it is an
interesting conjecture that it might be the intended TKh12-1, which would
explain its early withdrawal. The other was the preserved TKh-6322. As far as
I know, TKh12s regained after WWII did not return to PKP, but were
used by various industrial operators. Most, perhaps even all, of them
retained the TKh designation, supplemented by
serial number – this was a common practice with locomotives used in
industrial establishments. Mention must also be made of two ČSD
engines: 310.0123 (ex 97.234, Krauss
Linz 5128/1904) and 310.0127 (ex 97.241, Krauss Linz 5366/1905), taken over from DRG in 1945 and
erroneously designated TKh100-17 and TKh100-18, respectively; they were
returned to ČSD in 1948 after little, if any, service in Poland.
TKh-6322 (ex kkStB 97.254, Krauss Linz,
6322/1910), pre-war TKh12-12, is the only surviving example in Poland. It
served with the Borki-Grzymałów local railway, saw
some armored service after WWI (with at least one armored train, the ‘Śmiały’), later went to a colliery and can now be seen on
static display at the steam machines heritage park in Repty,
near Tarnowskie Góry. It
is noteworthy that, from once large family of ex-Austrian locomotives, only
four standard-gauge engines have survived in Poland until today. Main technical data
1)
Some sources give 53.5 sq.m 2)
Some sources erroneously give 255 examples for KkStB plus
several for other operators References and
acknowledgments -
EZ, EDÖ; -
www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik
(website by Josef Pospichal); -
Josef Pospichal and Dieter
Zoubek (private communication); -
Monographic article on the Tarnów-Szczucin
railway by Ryszard Stankiewicz
(SK vol. 11/2014). |
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