The first steam locomotives of the Baden Class VI c were delivered in 1914 by the Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe for service in southwestern Germany with the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway (Großherzoglich Badische Staatsbahn).

Baden VI c
DRG Class 75.4,10–11
Type and origin
Builder
Build date1914–1921
Total produced135
Specifications
Configuration:
 • Whyte2-6-2T
Gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)
Leading dia.990 mm (3 ft 3 in)
Driver dia.1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in)
Trailing dia.990 mm (3 ft 3 in)
Length:
 • Over beams12.700 m (41 ft 8 in)
Axle load16.4 tonnes (16.1 long tons; 18.1 short tons)
Adhesive weight47.8 tonnes (47.0 long tons; 52.7 short tons)
Service weight76.2 tonnes (75.0 long tons; 84.0 short tons)
Boiler pressure12 bar (1.20 MPa; 174 psi)
Heating surface:
 • Firebox2.12 m2 (22.8 sq ft)
 • Evaporative105.22 m2 (1,132.6 sq ft)
Superheater:
 • Heating area43.02 m2 (463.1 sq ft)
Cylinder size540 mm (21+14 in)
Piston stroke640 mm (25+316 in)
Performance figures
Maximum speed90 km/h (56 mph)
Indicated power580 kW (780 hp)
Career
Numbers
  • Baden: 900–909, 875–894, 910–971
  • DRG: 75 401...494, 1001–1023, 1101–1120
Retired1969

Design

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Their design benefited from experience with the Baden VI b steam engines, but they were a fundamentally different class with a superheater, new running gear with larger wheels and a longer, fixed wheelbase. The boiler was pitched higher, and the double steam dome was done away with, along with its connecting pipe.

Service

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The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway procured a total of 135 of these engines between 1914 and 1921 in nine batches. After the end of the First World War, 15 locomotives had to be given away to France and 13 to Belgium as part of the reparations required under the terms of the Versailles Treaty.[1] The French locomotives went to the Chemins de fer de l'État who numbered them 32-901 to 32-915;[2] they were retired from service by 1945. The Belgian locomotives went to the État-Belge, who added 6000 to their Baden numbers; after a few years they went the Chemins de fer Prince-Henri [fr] (PH) who renumbered them 251–263.

The remaining 107 went to the Deutsche Reichsbahn. The lighter units of the first seven series were grouped into DRG Class 75.4, the heavier vehicles with a reinforced locomotive frame of the last two series were designated as DRG Class 75.10-11.

After the Second World War 66 Class VI c engines went into the Deutsche Bundesbahn, where they were stationed at various locomotive depots including Freiburg, Offenburg, Radolfzell, Singen, Waldshut, Karlsruhe and Villingen.[3]

The 13 Luxembourg locomotives had been taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn during the war; they had been renumbered 75 1121 to 75 1133. Eleven were returned to PH's successor, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL), who renumbered them 3501 to 3513, omitting 3506 and 3509.

Four locomotives, 75 402, 404, 460, 493, were found by the SNCF in Alsace and taken into stock as 1-131.TX., keeping the last 3 digits of their Deutsche Reichsbahn number.

Withdrawal

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In France, the SNCF had retired 3-131.TB 901 to 915 (the former État locomotives) by 1945; although one, 3-131.TB.909, was retained as a static instructional locomotive until 1967.[2] The 131.TX locomotives lasted until 1952.[4]

In Luxembourg, the CFL retired its 3500-series between 1957 and 1963.

In 1967 the last one serving with the Bundesbahn, number 75 1118, was retired.[5] The Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany still had some of these engines working at that time.

Preserved

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75 1118 in 2017 on the Alb Valley Railway

Number 75 1118 is operated today by the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde ('Ulm Railway Friends') on the branch line from Amstetten to Gerstetten[3] about 20 kilometres northwest of Ulm.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Obermayer, Horst J. (January 2001). "Typenblätter, Baureihen 60-98". Eisenbahn Journal (in German). Band No. 2. p. 51, paragraph 1.
  2. ^ a b Davies 2001, p. 37.
  3. ^ a b "75 1118, die badische VIc". Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde (in German).
  4. ^ Davies 2003, p. 81.
  5. ^ Obermayer, Horst J. (January 2001). "Typenblätter, Baureihen 60-98". Eisenbahn Journal (in German). Band No. 2. p. 51, paragraph 3.