TKp11

422.025 ‘Arcivévoda Karel’, ČSD (ex 178.49, BMMF 203/1907), in the shed at the Czech railway museum, Lužna u Rakovnika; June 14, 2008.

Another engine from the Czech railway museum collection: 422.002 (ex kkStB 17802, later 178.02, Krauss Linz 4430/1900), photographed on the same occasion.

Another picture of 422.002, taken on the same occasion…

… and yet another, this time still as kkStB 17802. Source: Die Lokomotive July 1906.

ŽSR 422.0108 (BMMF 346/1909), photographed in Sucha Beskidzka on September 6, 2008. Photo by Ryszard Rusak (thanks for permission!).

KkStB 178.97 (Krauss Linz 6249/1910) awaits reconstruction at the Heizhaus Strasshof; photo taken on June 20, 2009.

178.84 (Krauss Linz 6123/1909) later served with BBÖ as 92.2231, survived WWII and was finally withdrawn in March 1970. It can be seen at the Eisenbahnmuseum Schwechat. May 7,2011.

Another picture of the 178.84, taken on the same occasion.

Slovakian 422.0108 again: August 20, 2000. Postcard from my collection.

Austro-Hungarian 178.62, BMMF 266/1908. Postcard from my collection – probably a factory photo.

Former kkStB 178.95 (Krauss Linz 6247/1910) armored in Poland and used with the armored train ‘Paderewski’. Location unknown, probably 1919. This engine later became TKp11-17 and fell into Soviet hands in 1939. Source: Railway Museum archive (via Quixi Media).

TKp11-11 (ex kkStB 178.73, StEG 3537/1908), location and date unknown. This locomotive was written off before 1936. Photo from my collection.

Side drawing of class 178; source: Triebfahrzeuge österreichischer Eisenbahnen: Dampflokomotiven BBÖ und ÖBB (see References).

17810, kkStB (Krauss Linz 4623/1901), location and date unknown – probably a factory photo. This locomotive remained with BBÖ and was later impressed into DRG as 92 2214; returned after the war, it ended up in Hungary and was withdrawn in August 1956. Photo from my collection.

In 1898 Lokomotivfabrik Krauss & Comp. of Linz an der Donau built two tank locomotives with the 0-4-0 axle arrangement for the Wiener Neustadt – Puchberg line of Schneebergbahn (service numbers 21 and 22, serials 3866 and 3867). They ran on saturated steam and featured compound steam engines, no doubt under the influence of renowned Karl Gölsdorf, who was a keen advocate of compounds. 1^st and 3^rd axles were fixed, while both 2^nd and 4^th axles had ± 23 mm side-play, which allowed for negotiating curves 80 m in radius. Service tests were satisfactory and in 1900 a slightly modified variant was ordered by kkStB state railways as class 178. Until 1918, kkStB received 213 examples. Production was resumed in 1922 and until final termination in 1924 further thirteen followed (178.214 through 226), plus one more originally ordered by Steiermärkische Landesbahnen (178.232) and one by Wiener Lokalbahn (178.900). The latter was fitted with a single-expansion steam engine.

This not particularly advanced, but reliable and useful engine was also ordered by other railways. Eight were built for k.k.priv.Eisenbahn Wien-Aspang between 1900 and 1920 (this railway merged with Schneebergbahn in 1919), eight for Niederösterreichische Landesbahnen (three in 1912 and five in 1919, class 104) and two in 1916 for Militärschleppbahn Steinfeld. After the war all these engines were taken over by newly-formed state railways BBÖ as 178.295 through 304 and 178.801 through 810. This gives a total of 248 examples which served with kkStB and/or BBÖ, although some sources give 227, which refers to those originally ordered by state railways. Most were built by Krauss Linz (182), other manufacturers included BMMF (17), StEG (16), Wiener Neustadt (14) and WLF (19). At least ten more were purchased by various other private railways. There were several variants; in particular, first 39 examples for kkStB had boiler pressure of 12 bar, while all other had 13 bar. Depending on water capacity (5.2 or 7.5 cu.m), coal capacity (1.9 or 2.5 tonnes) and various minor differences, empty weight ranged from 36 to 38.5 tonnes, which corresponded to 46 – 52 tonnes in working order. Engines with larger water capacity could be distinguished by longer waterboxes, which were extended forward by almost one metre, so that their front walls were in line with smoke-box door. In many examples one waterbox (usually the right one) was shortened to make room for the compressor – it seems that it was introduced during overhauls, when Hardy vacuum brakes were replaced by more modern air brakes. Early production 178s had large, Rihosek-type spark arrester, which was later deleted.

After WWI almost half of 178s owned by kkStB (105 examples) went to Czechoslovakian state railways ČSD. Later this company took over nine more engines after nationalization of several private local railways. All were classed 422.0; last of them was written off in 1970. BBÖ kept fifty engines, plus the above-mentioned twenty from other railways; after the Aschluss they were taken over by DRG (classed 92^22-23, together with those captured later in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia). Italy had twelve (FS class 893), Yugoslavia seven (JDŽ class 52) and Romania six (operated with original kkStB service numbers). Finally, six ended up it the Soviet Union.

According to stock lists available at www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik, Poland took over 27 engines of this type, of which all but one were classed TKp11 and assigned service numbers 1 through 26. LP gives a total of 28 engines. Details on one of them (TKp11-27) are lacking, apart from boiler number, and it seems possible that this is 178.71 (StEG 3535/1908), which was written off before 1925 – but this is only my conjecture. If that was the case, PKP service number was assigned only formally. TKp11-28 (WrN 5559/20) was originally ordered by Wiener Lokalbahn (WLB) and numbered 71, but eventually delivered to Austrian railways ÖStB (later BBÖ) and assigned ‘untypical’ service number 178.5559. Later (probably in 1932) it was sold to PKP. (Many thanks to Piotr Staszewski and Attila Kirchner for information on this example.) Another engine ordered by WLB (WrN 5558/1920, No. 70) later became BBÖ 178.5558, but this one remained in Austria with BBÖ. As many other locomotives of Austrian origin, most TKp11s were operated in southern and south-eastern Poland, where their low axle load, not exceeding 13 tonnes, and ability to negotiate tight curves could be best exploited. Six examples (including the above-mentioned 178.71) were converted to armored locomotives in Lwów between 1918 and 1919 and later used with armored trains in south-eastern Poland. They were returned to PKP in early 1920s (confirmed service numbers are TKp11-6, -15, -16, -17 and -19). Three TKp11s were written off before 1936. After the September campaign, most of them (probably fifteen) fell into Soviet hands. They retained their original PKP designations, written in Russian script; according to LOZD vol.1, some were converted to the 1524 mm track, but their exact number is not known. Nine were captured by Germans and impressed into the DRG service as 92 2202 through 2210. Ultimate fate of TKp11-1 is unknown. Only three TKp11s were returned after the war. TKp11-4 (Krauss Linz 5693/1907) and TKp11-25 (Krauss Linz 6869/1914) became TKp11-1 and TKp11-2, respectively, but their post-war service – as with many other ex-Austrian types – was very short: both were written off in 1950. TKp11-12 (StEG 3538/1908) was not given new number and was written off in 1946.

Given short post-war service of TKp11s and their small number, it is no wonder that none has been preserved. Fortunately, as many as eleven examples still exist elsewhere: in Austria (four), Czech Republic (four), Slovakia (two) and Slovenia (one). They include the last example in the ČSD service (BMMF 346/1909), which had originally been built for the Nesamyslitz-Markowitz Lokalbahn and never served with kkStB. Taken over by ČSD after nationalization of the local railway in 1938 as 422.905 (later re-numbered 422.0108), it was withdrawn in 1970. Formally owned by Slovakian railways ŽSR and based in Zvolen, this engine is kept in working order and sometimes runs with special trains. 422.025 ‘Arcivévoda Karel’ (ex 178.49, BMMF 203/1907) is another operational engine of this type: a property of the Czech National Technical Museum of Prague, it is based in Lužna u Rakovnika. Possibly they will be joined by ex-WLB No.72 (Krauss Linz 7327/1919) from Zwettl, Austria, which has recently undergone a general overhaul (according to www.dampflok.at completed in March 2008). This engine currently has a fictitious post-war ÖBB designation 92.2271, although it never served with state railways; in fact, 92.2271, BBÖ 178.217, was written off in 1968.

Main technical data

No.	Parameter	Unit	Value
1.	Years of manufacture	-	1898 – 1924
2.	Total built / used in Poland	-	248^2) / 27^3)
3.	Tender class	-	-
4.	Axle arrangement	-	0-4-0
5.	Design maximum speed	km/h	50
6.	Cylinder bore	mm	420 / 650
7.	Piston stroke	mm	570
8.	Engine rating	kW/hp	420 / 570
9.	Tractive effort	kG	8 500
10.	Boiler pressure	MPa	1.33^4)
11.	Grate dimensions	m x m	1.65 m^2
12.	Firebox heating surface	m^2	6.6
13.	Distance between tube plates	mm	3 750
14.	Number of flue tubes	-	172
15.	Heating surface of flue tubes	m^2	93.2
16.	Number of smoke tubes	-	-
17.	Heating surface of smoke tubes	m^2	-
18.	Evaporating surface, total	m^2	99.8
19.	Superheater heating surface	m^2	-
20.	Diameter of drivers	mm	1100
21.	Diameter of idlers front/rear	mm	- / -
22.	Total weight, empty	kg	36 000 – 38 500^1)
23.	Total weight, working order	kg	46 000 – 52 000^1)
24.	Weight on drivers, working order	kg	46 000 – 52 000^1)
25.	Weight with tender, empty	kg	-
26.	Weight with tender, working order	kg	-
27.	Maximum axle load	T	11.5 – 13.0^1)
28.	Axle base (with tender)	mm	3 700
29.	Overall length (with tender)	mm	9 358
30.	Brake type	-	Hardy

1) Depending on variant.

2) Plus a dozen or so more for various local railways; several variants.

3) One with on PKP service number, withdrawn before 1926.

4) 1.22 MPa in first 39 examples for kkStB.

List of vehicles can be found here. 

References and acknowledgments

- LP, EZ vol. 2, ITFR;

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

- www.beitraege.lokomotive.de (Ingo Hütter’s locomotive database);

- http://republika.pl/derela (website by Michał Derela – information on armored locomotives);

- Piotr Staszewski and Attila Kirchner (private communication);

- Triebfahrzeuge österreichischer Eisenbahnen: Dampflokomotiven BBÖ und ÖBB by Heribert Schröpfer (Alba, 2002).