The

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. (; ; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the initialism FS) is Italy's national state-owned enterprise, state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate service ...

(Italian State Railways, FS) Class 737 (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

: ''Gruppo 737'') was a class of

steam locomotive 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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

which consisted of 15 ex-British War Department (WD)

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

locomotives of the

LMS Stanier Class 8F The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 8F is a class of steam locomotives designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order), as a freight version of William Stanier's successful ...

type which were purchased in 1946.

History

The first eight engines, (eventually FS Numbers ''737.001'' – ''737.008'') were built to WD orders between 1940 and 1942. The remaining seven (eventually FS Numbers ''737.009'' – ''737.015'') had been requisitioned by the War Department in 1941 from the

London Midland & Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

(LMS) - these had been built in 1936 by the Vulcan Foundry. All were then shipped to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, with several more classmates, where they served in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and were numbered in the Persian series. In 1944, 50 of the Persian engines were transferred to

Kingdom of Egypt The Kingdom of Egypt () was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922 until the abolition of the monarchy of Eg ...

Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

, where they were again renumbered into the Middle East Forces (MEF) 93xx series. Later WD numbers were original numbers plus +70000, and in 1946 FS bought fifteen of these. As they were non-standard in comparison to Italian locomotive practices, their career were relatively short, with the Class 737s working on the line between

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

and

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

until 1947 where after they were kept at

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

. They were all withdrawn from service in 1953 with them being scrapped in 1956.

Numbering

Numbers were as follows:

References

Sources

* * * * {{FS locos 737 LMS Stanier Class 8F Beyer, Peacock locomotives NBL locomotives Vulcan Foundry locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1946 Scrapped locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of Italy 1′D h2 locomotives

History

Numbering

See also

References

Sources