The Prussian Class S 3s were saturated steam locomotives developed by Hanomag for 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 ...

and were built from 1893.

Design

They were a further development of the S 2 and used the same

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

. The "S" stood for ''Schnellzuglokomotive'', or express locomotive, of which the S 3 was a large and powerful type. Because larger

turntables A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

with a 16-metre diameter were then being built, the

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

could be longer, which gave it better riding qualities. The locomotive had one high-pressure and one low-pressure cylinder, coupled to four

driving wheel 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 t ...

s in a configuration. They were the first class of locomotives to use

superheating In thermodynamics, superheating (sometimes referred to as boiling retardation, or boiling delay) is the phenomenon in which a liquid is heated to a temperature higher than its boiling point, without boiling. This is a so-called ''metastable state ...

, a process in which the

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

leaving the boiler is re-heated, resulting in better efficiency.

Procurement

The railway procured a total of 1,027 locomotives of this class up to 1904, and they were stabled at almost all locomotive depots ('' Betriebswerk'' or ''Bw''), making them the most numerous German express train locomotives. In addition, several hundred units were manufactured with smaller driving wheels - dubbed the P4 class. Another 40 examples went to the

Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * I ...

(see Alsace-Lorraine S 3) and six units, with a modified axle base, to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State Railways (see Oldenburg S 3).

Reichsbahn Era

Whilst 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 ...

still listed 451 Prussian S 3 engines in its 1923 renumbering plan (as 13 008 - 458), only 27 of them were left in 1925. They were grouped as DRG Class 13.0 with operating numbers 13 002–028. Locomotive 13 001 was not an S 3, but a Prussian S 2 converted into an Erfurt-type

compound locomotive A compound locomotive is a steam locomotive which is powered by a compound steam engine, compound engine, a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. The locomotive was only one application of compounding. Two and three ...

. The machines were retired by 1927. The Oldenburg State Railway locomotives were allocated numbers 13 1801–1806 in 1925, but were retired only a year later. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

over 100 engines were left with the Polish ( PKP) and Lithuanian Railways where some were still in service in the 1940s. Some were incorporated into the Reichsbahn fleet during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as 13 010, 301, 302, 305 - 337, 339 and 340. Several of these locomotives were in the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn until 1955 and were then returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The locomotives were equipped with Prussian 3 T 15, 2'2' T 16, 2'2' T 20 and 2'2' T 21.5 tenders.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prussian S 03 4-4-0 locomotives S 03 Compound locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1893 Berliner locomotives Borsig locomotives Hanomag locomotives Henschel locomotives Union Giesserei locomotives Passenger locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of Germany 2′B n2v locomotives AG Vulcan Stettin locomotives

Design

Procurement

Reichsbahn Era

See also

References