PRUSSIAN STATE RAILWAY
Constructed by the Stettiner Maschinenbau Actiengesellschaft “Vulcan,” Bredow, near Stettin, Germany, for the Prussian state Railways, The chief dimensions of the locomotive area as follows:
Cylinders:
Diameter of high pressure 460 mm
Diameter of low pressure 680 mm
Stroke of all pistons 600 mm
Ratio of cylinders capacities 1 to 2.18
Driving wheels, diameter 1960 mm
Running wheels, diameter 980 mm
Wheelbase, total 7400 mm
Fixed base 2600 mm
Steam pressure 12 atmospheres (180 lb)
Heating surface 119.28 sq. m.
Grate area 2.27 sq. m.
Weight, empty 42,600 kg.
Weight in service 48,100 kg.
For fast train locomotives the state Railway regulations provide that the maximum adhesion load on each axle, driving or coupled, is 15,200 kilograms (15 tons), whilst for ordinary locomotives it is 14,000 kilograms (14 tons). The pull is 4,250 kilograms (4.2 tons), the maximum speed 90 kilometers (56 miles) per hour.
The boiler is of the usual straight-topped type, the shell being 55 in. in diameter, and 12 ft. 9 ½ in. long between tubeplates. The internal firebox is of copper, the crown being supported by through stays, horizontal stays being added over the crown to prevent the spreading of the side plates of the outer box, which would otherwise arise. The internal firebox inside measures 7 ft. 2 ½ in. in length by 3 ft. 4 in. wide. The barrel of the boiler is made up of three rings of 14 millimeters plate. The tubes, which are of iron, number 231, and are 1.8 in. in diameter outside. The regulator is of the balanced slide valve type.
The bogie is of the four wheeled type, these wheels being 3.28 ft. in diameter over treads. The load is transferred from the frame to the bogie through bearing plates. The bearings of the vertical pivot are arranged to permit of a certain amount of side play, 1.2 in. on each side, this being controlled by springs.
The cylinders and valve chests, as well as the valve gear, which are of the Heusinger von Waldegg type, are arranged outside the frames. The wheels are cast steel spoke wheels, balanced at the time of casting by cast in counterweights. The coupled wheels measure 6 ft. 6 in. over treads.
For the breaking of the train there are provided en Exter ballistic brake on the tender, and a Westinghouse rapid compressed air brake, which acts upon the tender and the train and on the driving and coupling axles of both sides of the engine.
The engine is fitted with suction injectors and with a sandbox, the steam for heating the train and the gas for lighting the signal lamps and the cab are taken from the engine.
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organizations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. Prussia did not have an independent railway administration, rather the individual railway organizations were under the control of the Ministry for Trade and Commerce or its later offshoot the Ministry for Public Works. For this reason the words 'state railways' have not been capitalized.
Overview
The first Prussian railways were private concerns, beginning with the Berlin-Potsdam Railway in 1838 and which was therefore known as the "Stammbahn" (roughly translates as 'original line'). The state of Prussia first financed railways around 1850. These were the Royal Westfalian Railway Company (Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft) and the Prussian Eastern Railway or Prussian Ostbahn (Preußische Ostbahn). In 1875 they funded two more important new railways: the Prussian Northern Railway or Prussian Nordbahn (Preußsische Nordbahn) and the Marienfelde–Zossen–Jüterbog Military Railway.
After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, various private, commercially-oriented lines were brought under Prussian control through annexation, outright purchase or the provision of financial support depending on their situation. It was the in Between 1880 and 1889 most of the private lines were able to be nationalized thanks to Prussia's strong financial situation making it the biggest company in Germany in 1907.
The individual railways acted as if they were independent operations and developed their own rolling stock. The extent of this independence is illustrated in an 1893 street plan of Berlin that shows the Silesian station (Berlin's departure point for the Ostbahn since 1882) and a few hundred yards apart from each other the main workshops for the Royal Berlin Division and the Royal Bromberg Division of the Ostbahn.
At the end of the First World War the network of the state-owned Prussian railways had a total length of almost 37,500 kilometers. The history of the Prussian state railways ended in 1920 with the nationalization and absorption of the various German state railways into the Imperial Railways (Reichseisenbahn), later the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
A common mistake is the assertion that there was a so-called Royal Prussian Railway Administration (Königlich Preußischen Eisenbahn-Verwaltung) or KPEV. However no organization of that name ever existed. Paradoxically various Prussian railway vehicles carried an emblem with the initials K.P.E.V. which probably gave rise to the idea. See Royal Prussian Railway Administration for an explanation.
The Prussian state railways were, like all other German state railways, subordinated to the authority of the German Empire after 1920 and then went into the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft in 1924. Quite a few of the locomotives formerly ordered by Prussia continued to be supplied until 1926 and were still defined as Prussian locomotive classes in the Reichsbahn fleet until they were eventually renumbered.
AG Vulcan Stettin
Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin (usually just mentioned as AG Vulcan Stettin or A.G. Vulcan Stettin) was a German shipbuilding and locomotive builder company, located in Stettin (Szczecin). AG Vulcan Stettin played a significant role in both World Wars, building U-boats and warships for the Kaiserliche Marine. They also sold blueprints to other nations, among others those for the Russian destroyer Novik and the light cruiser Pamyat Merkuriya (later renamed the Komintern). The company and shipyard were taken over and closed by the Polish government after World War II.
History
AG Vulcan Stettin was originally founded as Vulcan Werft in Stettin in 1851 and the shipyard was a pioneer of large-scale shipbuilding and a leading shipyard in Germany until its demise in 1945.
Its first ship was the iron steamer Dievenow. In 1857 the shipyard was renamed Stettiner Maschinenbau AG Vulcan, and as larger and larger ships were built, the facilities in Stettin could no longer sustain the scale of the operations.
Thus a new shipyard were built in Hamburg between 1907–1909. New Name since 1911: Vulcan-Werke Hamburg und Stettin Actiengesellschaft. In 1928 the company went bankrupt and sold its Hamburg shipyard in 1930, the AG Vulcan Stettin had been closed.
The shipyard was finally taken over by the Polish government after World War II and a new Szczecin Shipyard was started at this site. The Szczecin Shipyard named one of its wharfs "Wulkan" and two slipways "Wulkan 1" and "Wulkan Nowa".
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