The

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

(FS; Italian State Railways) Class 480 (Italian: ''Gruppo 480'') is a

2-10-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement ...

steam locomotive.

Design and construction

The Class 480 was expressly designed for the Brenner Railway, 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 ...

had resulted in Italy and the FS taking possession of it up to its summit at the Brenner Pass. Previously the Austrian company Südbahn had worked the line with its powerful 2-10-0 SB 580 locomotives, ten of which had remained south of the new border and had been taken over by the FS as Class 482; these were however insufficient, and the Italian Class 470 locomotive, while powerful, did not have enough steaming to adequately last for the section from

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

to the summit. Therefore, it was decided to design a new locomotive based on the Class 482. The Class 480 was fitted with an Italian bogie, the central driving wheels had their

flange A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase strength (as the flange of an iron beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer of contact force with another object (as the f ...

s reduced, and the last driving axle was given some lateral play to allow the locomotive to deal with sharp curves; because of the need of a boiler with good steaming capacity, a huge firebox (, considered the maximum compatible with hand-firing) was fitted. Coherent with the standard FS practices, the locomotives were

superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are ...

and had two simple-expansion cylinders; they also had left-hand drive and multiple Del Papa valves. A standard FS bogie tender was fitted. Given the needs of the Brenner line, only 18 locomotives were ordered, all to the

Officine Meccaniche Officine Meccaniche or OM was an Italian car and truck manufacturing company. It was founded in 1899 in Milan as Società Anonima Officine Meccaniche to manufacture railway rolling stock and car production began in 1918. It disappeared as s ...

, which delivered them in 1923.

Operations

The Class 480 was initially allocated on the Brenner line, on which it proved very successful. After it was electrified in 1930 the locomotives were transferred to the sheds of Messina and Catania; in the last years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

they were re-transferred to Salerno, but returned to Sicily in the postwar years until the end of their career, although some of them were assigned to heavy shunting duties. The last Class 480 locomotives were withdrawn from duty in the early 1970s.

Accidents

The locomotive 480.016 was one of the two steam locomotives involved in the

Balvano train disaster The Balvano train disaster was the deadliest railway accident in Italian history and one of the worst railway disasters ever. It occurred on the night between 2–3 March 1944 in Balvano, Basilicata. Over 500 people in a steam-hauled, coal-burning ...

, the deadliest train disaster of Italy and one of the deadliest to this date. In the night between 2 and 3 March 1944, a freight train illegally ridden by hundreds of people stalled in a tunnel on the line between

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and Potenza, near the railway station of

Balvano Balvano ( Lucano: ) is a small city and a ''commune'' in the province of Potenza (Basilicata, southern Italy). The recent history of Balvano is connected to several catastrophes. In 1944, a steam train stalled in a nearby railway tunnel, suffocat ...

; the crews and the passengers were overcome by fumes and killed by

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

poisoning, with more than 500 victims. The causes were indicated as the poor adherence conditions because of the humid rails, and the poor quality of the coal supplied by the Allied authorities of occupation.

Preservation

One Class 480 locomotive survived into preservation, the 480.017, which is kept as a static exhibit at the Pietrarsa railway museum.

References

* * {{FS locos

480 __NOTOC__ Year 480 (Roman numerals, CDLXXX) was a leap 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 Basilius without colleague (or, less frequ ...

2-10-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1923 Standard gauge locomotives of Italy Freight locomotives