The first class of

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

to be designated the D II by the

Royal Bavarian State Railways The Royal Bavarian State Railways (''Königliche Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.Bay.Sts.B.'') was the state railway company for the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded in 1844. The organisation grew into the second largest of the German ...

(''Königlich Bayerische Staatsbahn'') comprised small

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

s with two

coupled axles On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled to ...

. Because these engines were retired very early, from 1891 to 1898, their class number was reused for the six-coupled shunter introduced in 1898 and which later became the DRG Class 89.60. The original D II was the smallest

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

locomotive ever owned by the Bavarian State Railway. It was based on a design by

Krauss Krauss is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alison Krauss (born 1971), American bluegrass musician * Alexander Krauß (born 1975), German politician * Alexis Krauss (born 1985), musician of the noise pop duo Sleigh Bells ...

which was delivered in numerous variants for different purposes to stations and construction firms. The

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

had a regulator housing behind the chimney instead of a

steam dome The steam dome is a vessel fitted to the top of the boiler of a steam engine. It contains the opening to the main steam pipe and its purpose is to allow this opening to be kept well above the water level in the boiler. This arrangement acts as a ...

from which the steam pipes ran to the cylinders on the outside of the boiler. The steam supply was controlled by an outside

Allan valve gear The Stephenson valve gear or Stephenson link or shifting link is a simple design of valve gear that was widely used throughout the world for various kinds of steam engines. It is named after Robert Stephenson but was invented by his employees. ...

. The engines ran on cast iron disc wheels and has a

well tank A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water storage tanks, tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tank ...

, i.e. the space between sole bars of the

locomotive frame A locomotive frame is the structure that forms the backbone of the railway locomotive, giving it strength and supporting the superstructure elements such as a cab, boiler or bodywork. The vast majority of locomotives have had a frame structure o ...

was used for the water tank. The driver's cab initially had just a free-standing roof; later the engines were give a full cab with a roof that sloped towards the front. Four engines were delivered with the names: ''GEIER, STRAUSS, FUCHS'' and ''BÄR''. The D II was used in the early 1870s on the '' Vizinalbahn'' lines from Siegelsdorf to Langenzenn, Immenstadt to Sonthofen and Georgensgmünd to Spalt. ''BÄR'' was deployed to the Immenstadt to Sonthofen line, which had been opened in 1873, and ''STRAUSS'' was used on the line from Siegelsdorf to Langenzenn, to be joined later by the other engines. An excellent 1:10 model of ''BÄR'' is displayed in the

Nuremberg Transport Museum The Nuremberg Transport Museum (') is based in Nuremberg, Germany, and consists of the Deutsche Bahn's own DB Museum and the Museum of Communications ('). It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel (the '' DB Museum Koblenz'') and Hall ...

Sources

See also