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the BBÖ was faced with a massive shortage of shunting locomotives, as the locomotives used up to then were very outdated.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

130 130 may refer to: *130 (number), the natural number following 129 and preceding 131 *AD 130, a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar *130 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar *Kin Sang stop, MTR digital station code *130 Ele ...

279 __NOTOC__ Year 279 ( CCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Probus and Paternus (or, less frequently, year 1032 ''Ab urbe condita''). The den ...

and

379 Year 379 ( CCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday 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 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 379 ...

). 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 Wien Westbahnhof (Vienna West station) is a major Austrian railway station, the original starting point of the West railway (''Westbahn'') and a former terminus of international rail services. In 2015, its role changed with the opening of Vie ...

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

and

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) 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 population is 61,887. Together wit ...

, 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 (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

of Austria in 1938 the class was initially 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 Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

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 ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

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 The Austrian Society for Railway History ( or ÖGEG) is an Austrian society that was formed from a group of railway fans, who got together around 1971 in order to look after working steam locomotives at the ÖBB depot of Linz. History The socie ...

(''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 Injector, feedwater injector. This ejector (German: , or ) was invented in 1951 by the Austria, Austrian engineer, Dr. Adolph Giesl-Giesling ...

, 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 784th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 784th year of the 1st millennium, the 84th year of the 8th century, and th ...

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