The BBÖ 478 was a class of fifty 0-8-0T shunting locomotives of the Bundesbahnen Österreich (BBÖ).

History

It was common practice in Austria to cascade old tender locomotives that were no longer powerful enough for line service into service as shunters. In the 1920s, however, the BBÖ was faced with a massive shortage of shunting locomotives, as the locomotives used up to then were very outdated. An attempt was made to fill the shortage by buying Swiss locomotives (BBÖ classes

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279 __NOTOC__ Year 279 ( CCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Probus and Paternus (or, less frequently, year 1032 ...

and

379 Year 379 ( CCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ausonius and Hermogenianus (or, less frequently, year 1132 '' A ...

). It was clear, however, that the most sensible solution was to buy their own new shunting locomotives. Since the 378 class branch line locomotive was being developed at the same time, the aim was to design the shunting locomotive class similar to this, while matching as many components as possible. With the omission of the leading and trailing axles, the 478 class was created. In addition to the changes to the frame that resulted from this, the 478 class received slightly larger diameter cylinders, otherwise the two series were practically the same. As with the 378s, the 478 class immediately went into series production without a test locomotive. The BBÖ acquired a total of 50 locomotives to its fleet. They were initially used in Wien Westbahnhof, Wiener Neustadt and

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the po ...

, and later in almost all larger train stations. In the 1930s, some received welded water tanks to reduce leakage. At the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

of Austria in 1938 the class was initially taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn as 92 2301 – 92 2350. But they were soon renumbered as 92 2501 – 92 2550. After the Second World War, the

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

retained 43 locomotives, to which they assigned a "3" prefix to the DR number, (392.2501...392.2550). The last 392s were part of the ÖBB until 1972. The 392.2510 and 392.2530 were preserved; both are owned by the Austrian Society for Railway History (''Österreichische Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte'', ÖGEG). Wolfsegg-Traunthaler Kohlenwerke AG purchased a similar machine in 1941, which in 1959 received a

Giesl ejector A Giesl ejector is a suction draught system for steam locomotives that works on the same principle as a feedwater injector. This ejector (German: ''Ejektor'', ''Flachschornstein'' or ''Quetschesse'') was invented in 1951 by the Austrian engineer ...

, front end throttle, and micro-spark arrester. It was retired in 1974.

References

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External links

"Austrian Steam Base"
{{DEFAULTSORT:BBÖ 784 0-8-0T locomotives D h2t locomotives

784 __NOTOC__ Year 784 ( DCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 784 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Eur ...

Wiener Neustädter locomotives Floridsdorf locomotives Lokomotivfabrik der StEG locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Austria Railway locomotives introduced in 1927 Shunting locomotives