Steam Trains and Engines

Few men have left such an unmistakable stamp on a country's locomotives as Dr. Karl Golsdorf, who was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Austrian State Railways from 1893 until his death in 1916.

Son of Adolf Golsdorf, who had been C.M.E. of the Sudbahn for 22 years, he was noted for the elegance and ingenuity of his designs, which numbered over sixty. After introducing the first Austrian 2-cylinder compound in 1893, his first 4-cylinder compound appeared 8 years later, and both types were standard for many years. In 1904 he produced the first European 2-6-2 locomotive, while his famous 2-6-4 express passenger and 2-12-0 freight engines were the first of their type in the world.

After the 1914-18 war the lines in Austria were amalgamated to form the Austrian Federal Railways; of all the major private companies only the Sudbahn retained its identity, and in 1924 this too was absorbed. Soon electrification began to render the older locomotives obsolete, and today, of all the passenger engines at one time running in Austria, only a handful remain. The famous Golsdorf 4-cylinder compounds are represented by a solitary Class '16' 2-6-4 which is to be preserved, and one Class '15' 2-6-2, No. 15.13, which is here seen as a mobile steam generator at Vienna Ostbahnhof.

Still maintained in running order and almost unaltered from the original design, No. 15.13 is a notable link with one of the greatest locomotive engineers of all time.