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Written by steamtrainengines.com
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After the war the standard-gauge railways of Greece were in a very run-down condition, much of the rolling stock and many miles of track having been destroyed. The remaining pre-war locomotives were assisted by American imports, until in 1953 the Hellenic State Railways ordered twenty big 2-10-2 mixed traffic engines from private builders in Italy. Designed for service on the Athens-Salonika main line, these vast machines stand 15 ft. high and dwarf the normal Greek rolling stock. Ten were built by Ansaldo in Genoa, ten by Breda in Milan; with 5 ft. 3 in. wheels and 26 in. x 27 in. cylinders they develop a tractive effort of 56,500 Ib. and are among the most powerful standard-gauge locomotives in Europe. Provision was originally made for mechanical stokers to be fitted, but most of the class have been converted to burn oil fuel. Kylchup exhaust and large elephant-ear smoke deflectors assisted in keeping the cab clear of smoke; more recently smiill smoke deflectors mounted at each side of the chimney as shown have replaced the original ones. These ' M ' class engines had their share of teething troubles, the very large boiler throat plates particularly being prone to cracking, due largely to the stresses set up by the very uneven track, but most of the boilers were sent to Henschel in Germany for modification and the locomotives are once again in service on the heaviest Greek trains.
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