The Prussian Class S 3s were saturated

steam locomotives 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 ...

developed by

Hanomag Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG, ) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles in Hanover. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering numerous steam locomotives to Finland, Romania and B ...

for the

Prussian state railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

and were built from 1893.

Design

They were a further development of the S 2 and used the same

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 ...

. The "S" stood for ''Schnellzuglokomotive'', or express locomotive, of which the S 3 was a large and powerful type. Because larger

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

with a 16-metre diameter were then being built, the

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

could be longer, which gave it better riding qualities. The locomotive had one high-pressure and one low-pressure

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

, coupled to four

driving wheel 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 ...

s in a

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

configuration. They were the first class of locomotives to use

superheating In thermodynamics, superheating (sometimes referred to as boiling retardation, or boiling delay) is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling. This is a so-called ''metastable state ...

, a process in which the

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

leaving the boiler is re-heated, resulting in better efficiency.

Procurement

The railway procured a total of 1,027 locomotives of this class up to 1904, and they were stabled at almost all

locomotive depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

s (''

Betriebswerk A ''Bahnbetriebswerk'' is the equivalent of a locomotive depot (or motive power depot) on the German and Austrian railways. It is an installation that carries out the maintenance, minor repairs, refuelling and cleaning of locomotives and other ...

'' or ''Bw''), making them the most numerous German express train locomotives. In addition, several hundred units were manufactured with smaller driving wheels - dubbed the P4 class. Another 40 examples went to the

Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine The Kaiserliche Generaldirektion der Eisenbahnen in Elsaß-Lothringen or EL (English: General Directorate of the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine) were the first railways owned by the German Empire. They emerged in 1871, after France had ced ...

(see Alsace-Lorraine S 3) and six units, with a modified axle base, to the

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State Railways The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Railway (''Großherzoglich Oldenburgische Eisenbahn or GOE'') was the railway company that was run as a state railway for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (''Großherzogtum Oldenburg''), part of the German Empire. History ...

(see

Oldenburg S 3 The Oldenburg Class S 3 steam locomotive was a German engine built for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State Railways (''Großherzoglich Oldenburgische Staatseisenbahnen'') in 1903 and 1904. It was based on a Prussian prototype, the Prussian S 3 (see ...

Reichsbahn Era

Whilst 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 ...

still listed 451 Prussian S 3 engines in its 1923 renumbering plan (as 13 008 - 458), only 27 of them were left in 1925. They were grouped as DRG Class 13.0 with operating numbers 13 002–028. Locomotive 13 001 was not an S 3, but a Prussian S 2 converted into an Erfurt-type

compound locomotive A compound locomotive is a steam locomotive which is powered by a compound engine, a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. The locomotive was only one application of compounding. Two and three stages were used in shi ...

. The machines were retired by 1927. The Oldenburg State Railway locomotives were allocated numbers 13 1801–1806 in 1925, but were retired only a year later. 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 ...

over 100 engines were left with the Polish ( PKP) and

Lithuanian Railways Lithuanian Railways ( lt, Lietuvos geležinkeliai), abbreviated LTG, is the national state-owned railway company of Lithuania. It operates most of the railway network in the country. During 2020, Lithuanian Railways transported 3.34 m ...

where some were still in service in the 1940s. Some were incorporated into the Reichsbahn fleet during the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

as 13 010, 301, 302, 305 - 337, 339 and 340. Several of these locomotives were in the

East German Deutsche Reichsbahn The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR ''(German Reich Railways)'' was the operating name of state owned railways in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and after German reunification until 1 January 1994. In 1949, occupied Germany's railwa ...

until 1955 and were then returned 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 ...

. The locomotives were equipped with Prussian 3 T 15, 2'2' T 16, 2'2' T 20 and 2'2' T 21.5 tenders.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prussian S 03 4-4-0 locomotives S 03 Compound locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1893 Hanomag locomotives Passenger locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Germany 2′B n2v locomotives AG Vulcan Stettin locomotives

Design

Procurement

Reichsbahn Era

See also

References