Ti4
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KPEV Kattowitz 831, later Kattowitz
4206 (Borsig
5030/1902). Kept by DRG,
it was re-numbered 54 819 and withdrawal date is unknown. Factory photo,
source: Lokomotiv-Archiv Preußen Band 2
(see References).
Side drawing of the G54, source –
as above.
KPEV
Halle 4305 (Henschel 8741/1907) was later taken over by PKP and designated Ti4-162. Source: as
above.
54 825 (Borsig 5075/1902) was initially
designated Posen 4222. In May 1929 it was rebuilt and fitted with steam
superheater; it was written off in November 1946. Source: Lokomotiven der alten deutschen
Staats- und Privatbahnen
by Hermann Maey and Erhard Born (Transpress,
1983).
An unknown G54 (there were five examples with service
number 4180), date and place also unknown. Source: Dampfloks der Preußischen
Staatsbahn by Thomas Estler
(Transpress,
2012).
KPEV Hannover 861 (Hanomag
3792/1902) remained with DRG after
the war and was withdrawn before 1925. Source: Die Lokomotive, April 1910, via www.de.wikipedia.org.
This locomotive (Henschel 9019/1908) was originally delivered to KPEV as Königsberg 4197. Taken over
by Lithuanian railways LG and
re-numbered 687, it fell into German hands following the annexation of Klaipėda
in March 1939 and was again re-numbered 54 1104. In 1945 it was taken over by
PKP and served as Ti4-31 until
written off in October 1951. Photo taken while in LG service, location and date unknown. Collection Toms Altbergs (used by permission – thanks!). |
Prussian
freight Moguls with single-expansion and compound steam engines (later
classed G51 and G52, respectively), used also with light
passenger trains on local lines, were modernized in early 1900s. Class G54
was developed from G52 as a compound version of class G53.
Differences between G54 and G52 were the same as
between G51 and G53: reduced locomotive axle base and
lead Krauss-Helmholtz pony truck, introduced in order to improve running
qualities at higher speed, higher boiler pitch, Heusinger
valve gear and increased diameter of cylinders. Weight in working order was
higher by about four tonnes. Of
all above-mentioned sub-classes, G54, ordered in quantity in 1901
and standardized as Musterblatt III-3k, enjoyed the longest
production run and was built in largest numbers. Production figures given in
individual sources differ slightly. According to data taken from Lokomotiv-Archiv Preußen Band 2
(see References), 747 examples of class G54 ‘proper’ were built
for KPEV by seven manufacturers: BMAG (nineteen), Borsig (210), Grafenstaden
(55), Hanomag
(61), Henschel
(258), Hohenzollern (28) and Humboldt (116). Besides, Borsig supplied
a single engine of this type to Prussian military railways and Henschel three
to Frankfurter Hafenbahn;
all four were later taken over by KPEV.
Three examples were ordered from Linke-Hofmann by
Lübeck-Büchener Eisenbahn (LBE); they were withdrawn in 1936. According
to above-mentioned reference, further 28 engines of this type, but fitted
with Adams lead axle, were built for KPEV
by Borsig
(nineteen), Grafenstaden (four) and Humboldt (five). They were classed G55, but many
sources do not distinguish them from G54. In fact, it is possible
that first five engines of this sub-type were actually G54s. To
make things ever more complicated, nine G55s built for Mecklenburgische Franz-Friedrich Eisenbahn
(MFFE) by Linke-Hofmann were classed G54, while three examples built
by Grafenstaden
for Reichseisenbahnen in Elsaß-Lothringen
were classed G55. This is possibly responsible for above-mentioned
discrepancies concerning total number of these engines. MFFE 459 (Linke-Hofmann 1079/1913) was the last locomotive
of this type built. Above figures sum up to 794 G54s and G55s;
I shall be grateful for any correction or amendment. After
the war locomotives from Alsace-Lorraine were taken over by SNCF and five from MFFE went to Belgium. Several engines
were taken over by Lithuanian railways, which in 1926 had 23 G54s
(LG class P54)
in service; initial number was possibly higher, as two G5s were withdrawn
earlier. Initially DRG intended to
keep 371 examples, but finally only 278 G54s and eleven G55s
were re-numbered 54 801 through 981 and 985 through 1092 (numbers 982
through 984 were erroneously assigned to G52s from
Alsace-Lorraine). The majority were withdrawn in late 1920s or early 1930s.
Twenty were rebuilt with steam superheating and most of these survived until
late 1940s, together with one example in its original form, 54 929 (Borsig
6005/1906), withdrawn in 1948. Last superheated G54 was written
off in 1951. Three ex-MFFE engines
became 54 1201 through 1203; all were withdrawn before 1939. Polish
railways were a major recipient of this type, in 1925 classed Ti4. Data on
their number vary slightly, depending on source. According to LP, 197 examples were actually
re-numbered, namely Ti4-1 through 195, Ti4-1Dz and Ti4-2Dz (used in Gdańsk – Dz stood for Danzig,
then a Free City). LP gives also
three more examples (KPEV Elberfeld
4187, Kattowitz 4211 and Stettin 4205), which were
never re-numbered; their ultimate fate is unknown. This may correspond to the
fact that at least three engines of this type were used with armored trains
during the war with Bolsheviks and 3rd Silesian Uprising and later
returned to PKP. They might be
written off due to poor condition after harsh war service or withdrawn before
1925, but this just a conjecture. Eleven Ti4s were withdrawn before September
1939. DRG took over 83 examples,
which were impressed into DRG and
re-numbered from 54 1108 upwards (numbers 54 1101 through 1107 were assigned
to former Lithuanian locomotives, taken over after annexation of Klaipeda in
May 1939). Three Ti4s were not re-numbered and written off in 1940. The Soviets
took over 76 examples, plus eight already withdrawn and one evacuated to
Lithuania and initially impressed into LG.
As many as 49 Soviet Ti4s fell into German hands after June 1941 and were
either impressed into DRG or
transferred to Ostbahn.
Ultimate fate of 26 Ti4s after September 1939 is not known. After WWII
several locomotives of this type returned from Germany, Austria and
Czechoslovakia. They were given service numbers Ti4-1 through 60 (numbers
Ti4-31, Ti4-32 and Ti4-46 were assigned to ex-LG engines 687, 689 and 686, respectively); further five saw no
service and were formally written off in 1946. Eleven engines returned by DR between 1955 and 1956 were
scrapped. Post-war service of class Ti4 in Poland was not long; last engines were
withdrawn in mid-1950s, a few went to industry, mainly to railway track
construction and maintenance establishments. Ti4-17 (pre-war Ti4-57,
originally Erfurt 4175, Henschel 7143/1905) was perhaps the last in active use:
sold in 1956 to a sugar plant, it was finally scrapped in 1968. Despite
comparatively large number built, no locomotive of this type has been
preserved. Main technical data
1)
Plus possibly three more not re-numbered. List of
vehicles can be found here. References
and acknowledgments
-
www.lokomotive.de/lokomotivgeschichte/datenbank
(Ingo Hütter’s database); -
LP; -
Lokomotiv-Archiv Preußen Band 2
by Andreas Wagner (Bechtermünz Verlag,
1996); -
Lokomotiv-Archiv Mecklenburg/Oldenburg by
Hans-Joachim Kirsche, Hermann Lohr
and Georg Thielmann (Transpress, 1989); -
www.derela.republika.pl
(website by Michał Derela); -
Steam
Locomotives of Lithuanian Railways 1919-1940 by Toms Altbergs (Zidex, 2012); -
John Peakman and Toms Altbergs (private communication). |
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