Th24
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Photographs of Polish Th24 are very few and poor.
Fortunately, I obtained three excellent photos of KkStB
machines from Josef Pospichal – many thanks! 59.05 (Wiener
Neustadt 3669/1893) was taken over by SHS railways; later
numbered 127-002 by JDŽ, it survived in service
until 1930s.
59.177 was
originally built for Bukowinaer Lokalbahnen, numbered 15977 and named
‘Lupul’ (StEG 3026/1902). Taken over by CFR, it was withdrawn
in 1936,
59.140 (WLF 1331/1900)
remained in Austria and later served with DRG
as 53 7203. In 1945 it became Th24-2, but probably saw little service, if
any.
A Th24, photographed somewhere in Poland
after 1925, which is confirmed by designation (albeit the number is
illegible). Source: National Digital Archives (www.nac.gov.pl). Used by permission.
Class 59 side drawing; source: EZ
vol.1.
Prototype kkStB
5901, then 59.01 (Wiener Neustadt
3636/1893) remained with BBÖ and
was withdrawn in 1928. Source: Die Lokomotive April 1916.
KkStB 15944 (BMMF 31/1902) on a turntable in St.
Michael, Austria, about 1902. This locomotive later became 59.144 and
remained in service until 1928. Source: www.commons.wikimedia.org. |
Between
1888 and 1900 three Austrian locomotive manufacturers (Wiener Neustadt, WLF and StEG)
built 153 freight locomotives with 0-3-0 axle arrangement, designated class
56. Most of them (132) went to the kkStB (kaiserlich-königliche österreichische
Staatsbahnen), the rest served with various
private railway companies. They were quite simple, single-expansion engines,
running on saturated steam. Soon after their appearance Karl Gölsdorf proposed a variant with compound steam engine. Gölsdorf was one of the keenest advocates of such layout,
due to better economy, despite more complex design and certain maintenance
problems. New locomotive appeared in 1893 and was soon accepted by kkStB as class 59. Until 1903, 192 examples were
built by Wiener Neustadt, WLF,
Krauss Linz, StEG
and BMMF (later known as PČM). When kkStB
service numbers system was modified in 1905, 5999 became 59.99 and 15901
became 59.101. Thus, 59.100 never existed, although some older sources claim
it was written off before 1918 and give total number built at 193. (I haven’t
avoided this error in earlier version of this entry – many thanks to Piotr Staszewski for correction!) Apart
from the steam engine, class 59 did not differ much from its predecessor and
featured inner frame, 1258-mm drivers and one large steam dome. Some examples
were fitted with large, Rihosek-type spark
arrester, typical for many Austrian locomotives. Instead of two cylinders 450
mm in diameter, there was a high-pressure left cylinder (500 mm) and
low-pressure right one (740 mm); Heusinger valve
gear, then a novelty in Austria, replaced earlier Gooch mechanism. Tractive
effort was marginally lower than in class 56, but coal consumption was
reduced by 20 to 25 percent. As
with other Austro-Hungarian classes, after 1918 these locomotives were
distributed among several countries. Of 39 examples in Czechoslovakia in
1918, 30 served with ČSD as class 324.2; withdrawals started well
before WWII and last were written off in 1949. 26 examples were impressed
into service with CFR in Romania; last were withdrawn in 1937.
Yugoslavian railways JDŽ received sixteen, classed 121; later they
were re-classed 127, but only few (five?) served briefly after WWII. Polish
state railways obtained 81 examples, but many sources give eighty, as 59.190
(BMMF 99/1903) was handed over to
Romanian state railways CFR in
1921, before new PKP designation
system was introduced. Of these, sixty were built against kkStB orders, the rest being
originally ordered by various private railways: -
Lemberg-Czernowitz-Jassy Eisenbahn
(three), -
Ostgalizische Eisenbahnen
(six), -
Bukowinaer Lokalbahnen
(one), -
Trzebinia-Skawce Eisenbahn
(four), -
Rakonitz-Pladen-Petschau
Eisenbahn
(two), -
Delatyn-Kolomea-Stefanowka Eisenbahn
(four), -
Modran-Cercan Eisenbahn (one). Initially
they retained their original service numbers; in accordance with the new
system, introduced in 1923, they were classed Th24. In the PKP service
they were coupled with various three-axle Austrian tenders, mainly 12C11, but
also 12C13 or smaller 11C12 and 11C13. Many of them had served on local lines
in Galicia, which became a part of Poland in 1918. Even by 1920s standards,
Th24 was not a particularly advanced design; furthermore, compounds were not
favored by PKP. It is no wonder, thus, that this class, initially
quite numerous among the ‘Austrians’, rapidly fell in number. Almost half
Th24s were withdrawn before 1931 and only fourteen remained in PKP
rosters until September 1939. Of these, twelve were taken over by the Germans
and impressed into DRG service as
class 5372. Three (including one withdrawn in 1938) were captured
by the Soviets and probably remained in Ukraine, to fall into German hands
later. In all, German railways had nineteen examples, four of them being ex-BBÖ engines impressed in 1938. After
WWII, eleven ex-Polish machines returned, plus an ex-Austrian one (DRG
53 7203, ex 59.140, WLF 1331/1900). Two of them, Th24-12 (ex 59.31, Krauss Linz 3195/1895) and
above-mentioned ex 59.140, were re-numbered Th24-1 and Th24-2, and possibly
saw some service. Six examples returned by DR in September 1950 were re-numbered Th24-3 through 8, but
probably saw no service and were written off in April 1951. Former Th24-41
(ex 59.126, WLF 1308/1899),
returned by Yugoslavian state railways JDŽ in May 1949, and three examples handed over by
DR in 1955, were
not even given new PKP service numbers. Last
locomotives of this type were withdrawn in 1950s and not a single one is
known to have survived until today. Main technical data
1)
Some sources erroneously give 193 examples. 2)
11C12, 11C13 and 12C13 three-axle tenders were also
used. 3)
With 12C11 tender. List of
vehicles can be found here. References
and acknowledgments
-
KT vol. 2, EZ vol. 1; -
www.lokomotive.de
(website by Ingo Hütter); -
www.pospichal.net
(website by Josef Pospichal); -
Josef Pospichal and Piotr Staszewski (private
communication – thanks to Josef for the photos!). |
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