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 ...

' Class P 10 were

2-8-2 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 two trailing wh ...

"Mikado" type passenger-hauling

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 ...

s built for hauling heavy express trains in the hilly terrain of the ''Mittelgebirge''. They were the last Prussian passenger train steam locomotives to be developed in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

before the state railways were merged into 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 ...

(German Imperial Railway), who eventually designated them as DRG Class 39. The design by

Borsig Borsig is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (1867–1897), German entrepreneur * August Borsig (1804–1854), German businessman * Conrad von Borsig (1873–1945), German mechanical engineer * Ernst Borsig (1869–1933) ...

, under the supervision of chief engineer August Meister, was ready in 1919 but, due to material shortages, no locomotives were produced until 1922. They were three-cylinder locomotives, all cylinders driving the second

coupled axle 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 tog ...

. Three sets of

Walschaerts valve gear The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The gear is sometimes name ...

were used, the one for the inside cylinder being mainly located inside the frame, but driven from the same eccentric crank as the valve gear on the left-hand side; two eccentric rods of different lengths being attached to the same crank. The locomotives' heavy axle-load exceeded the 17

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

standard specification of much of the German rail network, so they were limited to specific lines which were constructed to higher standards. A total of 260 of these locomotives were ultimately constructed and they worked primarily on the ''Main-Weser-Bahn'' between

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, as well as the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

region, the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

network until their replacement by Class 221

diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

, and the

Gäubahn The term Gäubahn (Gau Railway) is used in table 740 of Deutsche Bahn's timetable, which covers the route from Stuttgart to Singen (Hohentwiel) and Freudenstadt. It consists of the Stuttgart–Horb railway ( VzG line number 4860), the Horb–Tutt ...

. They were the most powerful of all the state railway passenger locomotives. The vehicles were originally equipped with Prussian 2'2' T 31,5 tenders. The

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

fitted many of the surviving examples with ''Witte''

smoke deflectors Smoke deflectors, sometimes called "blinkers" in the UK because of their strong resemblance to the Blinkers (horse tack), blinkers used on horses, and "elephant ears" in US railway slang, are vertical plates attached to each side of the smok ...

and 2'2' T 34 tenders. The last three engines were stabled in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and taken out of service in 1967. 39 184 is displayed in a museum located on the grounds of

Alstom Transport Deutschland Alstom Transport Deutschland, formerly Linke-Hofmann-Busch, is a German manufacturing company originally established in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) to produce locomotives and rolling stock. Its origins lay in the wheelwright business of Gott ...

Salzgitter Salzgitter (; Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city#Germany, independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitte ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The museum is not accessible to the public. The

DB Museum The Nuremberg Transport Museum (') in Nuremberg, Germany, consists of Deutsche Bahn's DB Museum and the Museum of Communications ('). It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel ('' DB Museum Koblenz'') and Halle (''DB Museum Halle''). ...

owns 39 230, which may be viewed currently at the

German Steam Locomotive Museum The German Steam Locomotive Museum (''Deutsches Dampflokomotiv-Museum'') or DDM is located at the foot of the famous '' Schiefe Ebene'' ramp on the Ludwig South-North Railway in Neuenmarkt, Upper Franconia. This region is in northern Bavaria, G ...

. In the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn the Prussian P 10 was indispensable and was therefore included in their reconstruction programme. The 85 Rekoloks were grouped into

DR Class 22 The steam locomotives of DR Class 22 were reconstructed passenger train locomotives in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany after the Second World War. These engines were rebuilt from DRG Class 39.0-2 locomotives and appeared bet ...

References

* * * * {{Prussian locomotives 2-8-2 locomotives P 10 Railway locomotives introduced in 1922 Standard-gauge locomotives of Germany Borsig locomotives Hanomag locomotives Henschel locomotives Krupp locomotives Linke-Hofmann locomotives 1′D1′ h3 locomotives Passenger locomotives

See also

References