TKp101

An unidentified TKp101, photographed between Tarnopol and Łanowce; winter 1929 was a very frosty and snowy one. Source: National Digital Archives (NAC), used by permission.

Austrian 92 2101 (ex kukHB 528.11, Henschel 14663/1916), photographed in Vienna. Capital ‘T’ comes from Russian ‘trofeynyi’, or booty, and indicates that the picture was taken before Russians left Austria in 1955. This locomotive later became 292.2101 and was one of the last two in service – withdrawn in December 1966. Source: Lokomotiven ‘Heim ins Reich’ – see References.

An unidentified kukHB Class 578 locomotive, location and date unknown. Source: Die Lokomotive November 1930.

During the First World War virtually all Austro-Hungarian locomotive manufacturers were overburdened, so military railways k.u.k. Heeresfeldbahn (kukHB) placed orders for standard-gauge locomotives, totaling 148 examples, with German factories. This number included 22 four-axle tank engines, delivered by Henschel between 1916 and 1917. These were relatively simple and robust single-expansion locomotives, running on saturated steam and fitted with Heusinger valve gear; their design followed typical Prussian standards of that time. Classed 578, all survived until the Armistice. Ten older examples, with factory numbers 14103 through 14112, were taken over by PKP and in 1925 classed TKp101 (almost all ‘military’ locomotives were considered ‘of foreign origin other than German or Austrian’ and assigned class numbers from 101 upwards). The remaining twelve engines were taken over by Austrian state railways BBÖ and retained their original service numbers. They were used as switchers at four switch yards in Vienna, apart from one example, which was assigned to Knittelfeld (Bruck/Mur). Following the Anschluss, all were impressed into DRG and classed 92²¹. Eight were returned after the war and served with ÖBB (later re-classed 292) until 1960s; last two, 292.2101 (ex 578.011, Henschel 14663/1916) and 292.2105 (ex 578.015, Henschel 14667/1917) were written off in December 1966. The remaining four were initially in April 1945 taken over by Hungarian railways MÁV, but eventually handed over in August 1949 to Romanian CFR; in the 1950s all were transferred to industry.

Of ten Polish TKp101s, one (TKp101-3, ex 578.003, Henschel 14105/1916) was withdrawn before 1936, the rest remaining in use until the war. In 1939 two fell into Soviet hands and were taken over by NKPS; their ultimate fate is unknown. The rest were impressed into DRG and re-numbered 92 2113 through 2119. In 1945 two were taken over by the Soviets and the remaining five returned to PKP with new service numbers. TKp101-1 (ex TKp101-2, Henschel 14104/1916) was withdrawn in February 1951 and TKp101-5 (ex TKp101-1, Henschel 14103/1916) followed in December 1955. The latter was converted into a fireless engine and remained in use until 1969. Three examples went to industry. TKp101-4 (ex TKp101-10, KukHB 578.010, DRG 92 2118, Henschel 14112/1916), sold in 1951 to the Kętrzyn sugar plan, was intended for preservation. This, however, failed to materialize and not a single example of this type has survived until today.

Main technical data

No.	Parameter	Unit	Value
1.	Years of manufacture	-	1916 – 1917
2.	Total built / used in Poland	-	22 / 10
3.	Tender class	-	-
4.	Axle arrangement	-	0-4-0
5.	Design maximum speed	km/h	45
6.	Cylinder bore	mm	2 ´ 540
7.	Piston stroke	mm	550
8.	Engine rating	kW/hp
9.	Tractive effort	kG	8 300
10.	Boiler pressure	MPa	1.33
11.	Grate dimensions	m ´ m	2.00 m^2
12.	Firebox heating surface	m^2	8.8
13.	Distance between tube plates	mm	3900
14.	Number of flue tubes	-	217
15.	Heating surface of flue tubes	m^2	105.0
16.	Number of smoke tubes	-	-
17.	Heating surface of smoke tubes	m^2	-
18.	Evaporating surface, total	m^2	113.8
19.	Superheater heating surface	m^2	-
20.	Diameter of drivers	mm	1090
21.	Diameter of idlers front/rear	mm	- / -
22.	Total weight, empty	kg
23.	Total weight, working order	kg	58 000
24.	Weight on drivers, working order	kg	58 000
25.	Weight with tender, empty	kg	-
26.	Weight with tender, working order	kg	-
27.	Maximum axle load	T	15.4
28.	Axle base (with tender)	mm	4 200
29.	Overall length (with tender)	mm	10 940
30.	Brake type	-	Hardy

List of vehicles can be found here.

References and acknowledgments

- www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik (website by Josef Pospichal);

- www.beitraege.lokomotive.de/datenbank (website by Ingo Hütter);

- Lokomotiven ‘Heim ins Reich’ by Andreas Knipping, Ingo Hütter and Hansjürgen Wenzel (EK-Verlag, 2009);

- Josef Pospichal (private communication);

- Article by Paweł Terczyński and Krzysztof Zintel (SK vol. 8/2024).