List of Württemberg locomotives and railbuses

This list covers the locomotives and railbuses operated by the Royal Württemberg State Railways ("Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen"), the national railway company of Württemberg, a state in southwest Germany that was part of the German Empire. In 1920 the Royal Württemberg State Railways, along with the other German state railways (Länderbahnen), were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

Locomotive classification

The Württemberg state railway first divided its locomotives into classes in 1845. This first categorisation into classes I to VII was based on the order in which individual vehicles were procured.

The scheme proved to be unworkable in practice, so in 1858 a new system was introduced as follows:

* A - Light express and fast-stopping train locomotives
* B - Heavy express and fast-stopping train locomotives
* C - Light passenger train locomotives
* D - Heavy passenger train locomotives
* E - Light goods train locomotives
* F – Heavy goods train locomotives
* T - Tank locomotives

In several cases the previous classes were simply redesignated. In other cases new locomotives and rebuilds were grouped together into one class despite being of different designs. Over the course of time, the shortcomings of the system became apparent. In particular, the division of locomotives into 'light' and 'heavy' groups was unfortunate. The classification scheme was also no longer sufficient for new locomotives. As a result it was changed slightly in 1892. On retirement, classes that became 'free' were used again.

* A to E - Passenger train locomotives
* F to K - Goods train locomotives
* T - Tank locomotives

Individual classes were differentiated by means of lower case letters in order to be able to indicate certain characteristics, as well as by arabic numerals to distinguish the individual designs.

* a - Older locomotives
* aa - Very old, ready for retirement
* c - Compounds ("Verbundtriebwerk")
* d - duplex (double drive = Mallet)
* h - Superheated locomotive
* n - Branch line locomotive
* z - Rack railway locomotive
* s - Narrow gauge locomotive, 1000 mm gauge
* ss - Narrow gauge locomotive, 750 mm gauge

Furthermore several special abbreviations were introduced, such as KL for small locomotives, DW for steam railbuses, BW for petrol railbuses and AW for accumulator cars.

Württemberg locomotives were given names up to 1896. Subjects for locomotive names were generally geographical features (towns and rivers). Very often, locomotives were given names from their area of operations. On being transferred elsewhere, their names were usually changed.

In addition to names, locomotives were also given numbers. Up to 1890, they were sequentially numbered from 1 - 377. From that time onwards, newly procured locomotives in each class were given a special group of numbers, generally one hundred, beginning at 401.

On rebuilding, locomotives were organised into new classes, but the individual locos each retained their old operating numbers.

Steam locomotives

Early locomotives for all traffic types

The majority of these locomotives were rebuilt between 1867 and 1893. None were given operating numbers by the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

Tank locomotives

Second conversion period 1887–1910

Railbuses

Literature

* Hans Kobschätzky: "Die Königlich Württembergischen Staatseisenbahnen", Franckh, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-440-04815-2
* Hermann Lohr, Georg Thielmann: "Lokomotiv-Archiv Württemberg", transpress, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-344-00222-8
* Albert Mühl, Kurt Seidel: "Die Württembergischen Staatseisenbahnen", Theiss, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-8062-0249-4
* Wolfgang Valtin: "Deutsches Lok-Archiv: Verzeichnis aller Lokomotiven und Triebwagen Band 1 – Nummerierungssysteme", transpress, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-344-70739-6
* Wolfgang Valtin: "Deutsches Lok-Archiv: Verzeichnis aller Lokomotiven und Triebwagen Band 2 – Dampflokomotiven und Dampftriebwagen", transpress, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-344-70740-x

See also

*History of rail transport in Germany
*Länderbahnen
*Kingdom of Württemberg
*Royal Württemberg State Railways
*UIC classification

External links

* There is an English-language discussion forum at [http://germanrail.8.forumer.com/ Railways of Germany]