TKt2

TKt2-66 (DRG 93 890, Hanomag 10129/1922), photographed at the Opole depot in 1959. Photo from my collection.

T14¹ side drawing, early version, © Lokomotiv-Revue (source: TB vol.2).

TKt2, late version; side drawing by M.Ćwikła (source: SK vol. 3/2005).

93 585, DR (ex KPEV Altona 8516), Union 2536/1920, photographed somewhere in Germany probably in 1960s. Postcard from my collection.

KPEV ‘Danzig 8505’ (Union 2504/1919), later renumbered 93 512 by DRG. In 1945 this engine became TKt2-47 and was withdrawn in May 1967. Postcard from my collection.

93 526 (Hohenzollern 3949/1919) in DB service, photographed at the Hannover depot in 1967. Postcard from my collection.

Two Class 93^5-12 engines at the Aachen Hauptbahnhof, August 25, 1961. The first one is 93 1082 (Krupp 688/1923), which was withdrawn in November 1966. Photo by someone who wishes to be known as Brooksbank (source: www.commons.wikimedia.org).

DR 93 1036 (Hagans 1111/1923), photographed in Rothenbach on May 15, 1971. This engine was withdrawn the next October. Photo by Reiner Preuss (from my collection).

Starting from 1914, German railways received 589 class T14 universal tank locomotives for mixed traffic, of which the majority – 547 – went to KPEV. These engines proved very useful in service, but had certain shortcomings; in particular, weight distribution was rather uneven and water box capacity was considered too small. Redesign was undertaken by Union Gießerei of Königsberg, who were the principal supplier of T14s, and new engine emerged in 1918 as T14¹.

Boiler and steam engine of the T14 remained virtually unchanged. Main differences considered the undercarriage, although diameter of drivers and idlers was not changed. T14¹ was longer by 0.7 metre, mainly due to larger coal box. Together with an additional water tank under rear frame, this changed the weight distribution rather drastically: while in the T14 front idle axle took the highest load, 17.3 tonnes, in new version rear idle axle was the most loaded one, taking as much as 19.1 tonnes. This was unacceptable for many tracks and certainly did not contribute to good running qualities, especially during reverse running at high speed. According to TB, maximum axle load in the production variant was 17.9 tonnes, which may mean that some corrective measures had been taken. T14¹ featured lead and rear Bissel trucks; coupled axles were rigidly fixed in the frame, but 2^nd and 3^rd axles had wheel flanges narrowed by 15 mm, which allowed negotiating curves 140 metres in radius. Earlier production version had three boiler domes; later one featured two round domes and two rectangular sandboxes. Maximum speed, initially set at 65 km/h (as in T14), was increased to 70 km/h after some minor modifications, introduced during major overhauls in the 1930s, but in fact these engines could attain even 80 km/h.

Production of the T14¹ began shortly before the end of WWI and lasted until 1924. Five more examples were built in 1927, bringing the grand total to 768 machines, of which 485 were ordered by KPEV and 39 by Königliche Württembergische Staatsbahn (class T14, service numbers 1441 through 1479). 244 were ordered by DRG, after all railways of German Lands were merged into one state enterprise; DRG classed all these engines 93^5-12. As with many other German locomotives built in the 1920s, production was rather dispersed and there were as many as eleven suppliers: BMAG (27), Esslingen (44), Hanomag (53), Henschel (15), Hohenzollern (204), Humboldt (66), Krupp (29), Rheinmetall (27), Schichau (75), Union (194) and Wolf (34). Several early T14¹s, ordered by KPEV, were taken by various European railways after WWI as a part of war reparations. Apart from PKP, these included Belgium and France. PKP received seven examples, classed TKt2, but one (Union 2509/1918, Halle 8509) was erroneously designated TKt1-23. PKP class TKt1 corresponded to KPEV T14 and it seems that these two types, in fact similar, were often confused. TKt2s were initially based in Gdańsk, but in 1930 they were transferred to the Kraków-Zakopane mountain line, where their high tractive effort and satisfactory running qualities in both directions could be exploited to the full.

Of six TKt2s, two were in 1939 taken over by German railways and included into class 95^3-12. The remaining four (and TKt1-23) were sent eastwards with evacuation trains and after September 17 fell into Soviet hands; one was later captured by Germans. Not a single example returned after the war, but PKP took over 66 ex-DRG machines; besides, two T14s were erroneously classed TKt2, so this class numbered 68 examples. Three of them, however, despite being given PKP numbers, were not restored in service and scrapped in late 1940s or early 1950s. Most of them served with mixed traffic in Lower Silesia, but in early 1960s seven ran with suburban trains in the Warsaw area. Modifications included steel fireboxes, electric lighting instead of gas headlights, exhaust-steam injectors instead of Knorr pumps and feedwater heaters and some minor details. These locomotives were found particularly suitable for heavy industry, so as electrification progressed, 29 of them were transferred between 1954 and 1967 to various industrial establishments, mainly collieries. Last engine with PKP was TKt2-26 (Hanomag 10088/1922, KPEV Berlin 8926, DRG 93 851), withdrawn in November 1972 after fifty years in service. With industrial operators, last of them survived probably until early 1980s. According to SK, TKt2-54 (Union 2713/1922, KPEV Berlin 8992, DRG 93 820) served at a colliery in Lower Silesia possibly until 1982. Unfortunately, not a single machine was preserved.

After 1954, many locomotives of this type remained in Germany. DB had 444 examples, of which last were withdrawn in December 1968. DR were left with 172 and last of them survived until 1972. In Czechoslovakia, of 24 examples left by German authorities, only one was classed 447.0 and restored in service, but this locomotive, together with nineteen more, was taken by the Soviets and impressed into SŽD. One was scrapped, two went to Poland (to become TKt2-10 and TKt2-13) and one to DB. Soviet railways must have found this type particularly useful. Both T14s and T14¹s, taken as the war booty or received as a part of reparations, were classed Tъ (in Russian alphabet, ъ is a phonetic symbol with no Latin equivalent) and this class numbered 124 examples. It is possible that there were more, which had not been re-classed, but detailed information is lacking. They remained in service until late 1960s. Moreover, two engines were found in Austria, but both were transferred to Yugoslavia in late 1947 (JDŽ class 158).

Class T14¹ had some shortcomings, but these engines performed well and some of them served for about sixty years. However, they must have had a sort of bad luck: most probably only one has survived until today, namely 93 526 (Hohenzollern 3949/1918, KPEV Hannover 8550), last in the DB service, which can be seen on static display at the Deutsches Dampflok-Museum in Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg.

Main technical data

No.	Parameter	Unit	Value
1.	Years of manufacture	-	1918 – 1927
2.	Total built / used in Poland	-	768^2) / 7^3) – 66^1)
3.	Tender class	-	-
4.	Axle arrangement	-	1-4-1
5.	Design maximum speed	km/h	70
6.	Cylinders, number x bore	mm	2 x 600
7.	Piston stroke	mm	660
8.	Engine rating	kW/hp	736 / 1000
9.	Tractive effort	kG	12 100
10.	Boiler pressure	MPa	1.22
11.	Grate dimensions	m X m	2.61 X 0.98
12.	Firebox heating surface	m^2	13.89
13.	Distance between tube plates	mm	4 700
14.	Number of flue tubes	-	111
15.	Heating surface of flue tubes	m^2	65.0
16.	Number of smoke tubes	-	26
17.	Heating surface of smoke tubes	m^2	47.97
18.	Evaporating surface, total	m^2	126.86
19.	Superheater heating surface	m^2	50.28
20.	Diameter of drivers	mm	1350
21.	Diameter of idlers front/rear	mm	1000 / 1000
22.	Total weight, empty	kg	79 950^5)
23.	Total weight, working order	kg	104 000
24.	Weight on drivers, working order	kg	70 000
25.	Weight with tender, empty	kg	-
26.	Weight with tender, working order	kg	-
27.	Maximum axle load	T	17.9^4)
28.	Axle base (with tender)	mm	9 300
29.	Overall length (with tender)	mm	14 500
30.	Brake type	-	Knorr

1) After WWII – two more were T14s, erroneously classed TKt2.

2) Some sources give 729, which refers to KPEV only.

3) Including one erroneously included into class TKt1.

4) According to TB; many sources give 19.1 T.

5) There are considerable discrepancies among various sources; TB gives 67 900 kg.

References and acknowledgments

- Monograph article by Roman Witkowski (SK vol. 3/2005);

- TB vol. 2, LP;

- www.lokomotive.de (locomotive database by Ingo Hütter).