The

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 ...

s of the Württemberg Class C were built for the

Royal Württemberg State Railways The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Please ...

in the early 20th century and were Pacifics designed for hauling

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than Local train, local trains that stop at most or all of the s ...

s. They were the smallest state railway '' Länderbahn'' locomotives with a

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...

History

The 41 C class locomotives were built between 1909 and 1921 by

Maschinenfabrik Esslingen Maschinenfabrik Esslingen (ME), was a German engineering firm that manufactured locomotives, tramways, railway wagons, roll-blocks, technical equipment for the railways, (turntables and traversers), bridges, steel structures, pumps and boilers. ...

. They were designed from the outset for the steep gradients in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

and therefore had smaller

driving wheels 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 tog ...

with only a 1,800 mm diameter. Despite being the smallest engines with a Pacific configuration, they were economical, yet at the same time very powerful. In all, 41 units of this class were manufactured. The appearance of the locomotives was relatively unusual at the time. Striking features included the outside subframe and the streamlined shape of the driver's cab and smokebox, resembling that of the

Bavarian S 2/6 The Royal Bavarian State Railways' sole class S 2/6 steam locomotive was built in 1906 by the firm of Maffei in Munich, Germany. It was of 4-4-4 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2'B2' h4v in the UIC classification scheme, and was a ...

4-4-4 express locomotive and the later S 3/6 Pacifics. The locomotives were also known as "the beautiful Württemberg lass" (''die schöne Württembergerin'') due to this unique form. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, three engines were given to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where they became the État class 231 and one to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

where it became the sole example of the Om101 class. The remaining 37 were taken over by the

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...

as DRG Class 18.1, where they were given the running numbers 18 101–137. They were even taken over by the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

, but retired by 1955. The last two examples were numbers 18 133 and 18 136, which were stabled in

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

during their final years. The locomotives were equipped with wü 2'2' T 20 and wü 2'2' T30 tenders.

France

The three locomotives surrendered to France, 2021, 2026 and 2027, were allocated to the

Chemins de Fer de l'État The Chemins de fer de l'État ("State Railways"), often referred to in France as the Réseau de l'État ("State Network"), was an early state-owned French railway company. History The company was established by state order of the Third Republ ...

, where they were numbered 231–997 to 231–999. They were used until 1937, when they were placed into store for use as steam generators. The SNCF allocated them the numbers 3–231.A.997 to 999, but the locomotives never carried these numbers. The three locomotives were destroyed in an air raid on 13 May 1944 and subsequently scrapped.

Models

The German model railway manufacturer

Märklin Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accesso ...

has produced models of the Wuttemburg C class as part of its HO and Z scale range in K.W.St.E green or grey as the C class, and in black as the DRG or DB 18.1 class.

Roco Roco, based in Salzburg, Austria, is a manufacturer of model railway equipment. History The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became succ ...

has produced a model of the C class in HO scale with part number 43216.https://www.roco.cc/doc/ET/1/DE/43216_8876.pdf

References

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External links

Technical data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wurttemberg C 4-6-2 locomotives C Esslingen locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1909 Passenger locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Germany 2′C1′ h4v locomotives

History

France

Models

See also

References

External links