LOCOMOTIVES I 2008 - STEAM-POWERED LOCOMOTIVE MÁV 651/JŽ 31

Motifs: Steam-powered locomotive series MÁV 651/JŽ 31 The development of steam-powered locomotives marked the beginning of the technical revolution. This process started in the year 1814 when George Stephenson constructed the first locomotive where the steam engine made by James Watt was used. The locomotive was named “Mylord” and it could pull a load of 30 tons at the speed of 6 km/h. Sixteen such locomotives had been constructed by the year 1820 and they were put to use in English mines. Soon afterwards the building of railway tracks for public transport was set in motion which consequently set off an intensive development of steam-powered locomotives. The first steam-powered locomotive in Austria was built in 1840 and was named “Patria”. It circulated in traffic from 1841 to 1862. In 1846 the Siegl Locomotive Factory in Wiener Neustadt manufactured the first steam-powered locomotive with three joined axles. The first locomotives were simple (type A or type B), they had a low effect, little axial load and a low-pressure steam boiler. At the beginning of the 1860s more perfected and simpler type locomotives were constructed so that they had more identical parts. In the period of ten years some hundred of such locomotives in a greater number of series were produced with some of them running on the railway lines in Croatia as well. The Hungarian industry started manufacturing steam-powered locomotives in 1873 in the machine factory MÁV Gépgyár in Budapest. The first locomotives were manufactured on the basis of the project designs of the Austrian Siegl Locomotive Factory that was followed by locomotives made to their own designs. The first locomotives had low-lying boilers, a long smoke box and tall smokestacks. At the end of the 19th century more recent types of locomotives were manufactured when locomotives for goods traffic had to have greater traction power while locomotives used in passenger traffic had to develop higher speeds. In this factory they also manufactured locomotives specially adapted for difficult mountainous railway lines, among them there was also the one running in the direction of Rijeka. These were strong locomotives with a double mechanism - “Mallet”, series MÁV 401/JŽ 27, MÁV 601/JŽ 32 and MÁV 651/JŽ 31. For low-lying, less demanding, economic but locally-significant railway lines locomotives of the series MÁV 375/JŽ 51, MÁV 22/JŽ 16, MÁV 342/JŽ 17 and MÁV 370/JŽ 120 were used. After the Second World War modern steam-powered locomotives were produced with great traction power and with many new devices and the automatic fuelling. Fifteen years later the development of steam-powered locomotives was stopped due to their gradual exchange for the more economical electric and diesel locomotives. In Croatia, in the period between the building of the first kilometres of railway lines in 1860 and all up to the year 1988 when the very last steam-powered locomotive was withdrawn from traffic circulation, there were 64 series of steam-powered locomotives running in the railway traffic. All of them were at first manufactured in Austria and then in Hungary and since 1918 in Germany. In 1937 in Croatia, too, the production of steam-powered locomotives started, and specifically in the then first Yugoslav factory of locomotives and bridges in Slavonski Brod, the present-day “Đuro Đaković” Holding. The first locomotive to be produced was the tender locomotive signed JDŽ 16-014 that was given the name “Sava”. Afterwards in this factory they also produced locomotives of other JŽ series like, for instance, the series 51, 62 and 38. We have no reliable data about the locomotive series that used to run across Croatia in 1860 along the first railway line between Pragersko, Čakovec and Kotoriba in the direction of Hungary; however we could say that two years later the first train to Zagreb was hauled by the locomotive of the Austrian production series SüdB 29/JŽ 124. In Croatia the steam traction was intensively used for some hundred years, all up to the 1960s when the electric and diesel vehicles started to be introduced in traffic. Consequently, the number of steam-powered locomotives kept systematically decreasing: from 721 locomotives in 1952 the number decreased to 11 locomotives in 1984. The removal from circulation of steam traction traffic in Croatia was announced to begin on March 1, 1976; it was then that the last steam-powered locomotive signed JŽ 11-001/MÁV 424 was seen off from the Zagreb repair and maintenance shed. July 20, 1988 was the date of the last steam-powered locomotive to be used in the traffic in Croatia, the one running on the railway line between Pleternica and Našice. On October 23 of the same year the very last steam-powered locomotive signed JŽ 51-144 was officially seen off from the railway station Pakrac. The history of steam traction traffic in Croatia can nowadays be substantiated by the 36 steam-powered locomotives of 13 different series that are stored in the holdings of the Croatian Railway Museum. These locomotives were manufactured in the period between 1894 and 1961. This collection of steam engines is very valuable, it contains some rare items but it undoubtedly lacks specimens of some characteristic series, like the JŽ series 01, 06, 32, 37, 38, 26, 20 and 126. Unfortunately, these were cut up prior to the year 1991 when the Croatian Railway Museum was founded as the official “guardian” for the preservation of railway history. Together with the preserved museum locomotives, what remained recorded as mementos from the time of steam traction are the popular names that the railway men used to give the particular steam-powered locomotive series according to some of their specific characteristics. What is going to be remembered are the nicknames “Mađarica” [Hungarian] (series MÁV 375/JŽ 51), “Katica” [Cathy] (series MÁV 326/JŽ 125), “Špičoke” [Spikes], “Hiljadarke” [Thousand banknote] (series SHS 1000/JŽ 01), “Mikado”, “Pacific” (series SHS 389/JŽ 05) and “Germanke” [female Germans] (series DRB 52/JŽ 33). The issuing of postage stamps with the theme of steam-powered locomotives is doubtlessly going to contribute to the preservation of the history of steam traction in Croatia. Steam-powered locomotive series MÁV 651/JŽ 31 These locomotives were manufactured in the Hungarian factory MÁV Gépgyár in Budapest between the years 1909 and 1914; they were the first locomotives with six power-generating axles. They were used for the traction of goods trains. The power of the locomotive was 765 kW, i.e. 1040 HP, the length was 18,734 mm, the weight 79.8 t and the highest speed 50 km/h. In Croatia there were nine locomotives of this series and they pulled goods trains on the so called Rijeka railway line and later on the Lika railway line. They were in circulation up to the mid 1960s. Nowadays there is not a single locomotive of this series preserved.