Trains of Turkey | Steam / Steam

Steam engines

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Warning: non TCDD steam loco (industrial or otherwise) and locos out of inventory before TCDD was founded are not listed.

Overview

During the Ottoman time, the various private companies procured their motive power mostly from the home country of their stockholders. Then, having no national engines manufacturing, TCDD continued to purchase imported engines. Consequently Turkish engines are coming mostly from Germany, England, France and United States. TCDD relied on existing proven design and the western railway enthusiasts will often recognize engines already seen at home.

The Turkish network is quite demanding. It is a mountain network with steep gradient and sharp curves. On the Anatolian plateau the average altitude is near 1000 m. The weather is hot and dry in the summer. But it is often forgotten that, inland, the winter is very cold and with a lot of snow.

For these reasons, Turkish engines are "small wheels", four and then five driving axles became quickly the norm, the first Decapod (1'E) where used in the 1920's. Since speed was not feasible, the same engines could be used on freight as well as passenger trains and most of the engines are of "mixed" type.

Double heading plus banking was common: it was not rare to see four Decapods working on the same train. But articulated engines were not successful in Turkey: one Garratt have been tried and a few Mallets have been used in the 1920's but they were taken out very quickly. Mallet should have been very successful but my guess is that the lack of capital finance prevented TCDD from buying them. Maybe someone can provide additional explanation?

Engines numbering

The numbering scheme used by TCDD for its steam engines relies on the number of axles:

• The first digit indicates the number of driving axles.
• The second digit indicates the total number of axles of the engines.
• The following digits are the engine serial number. Two digits are used for tank engines; three digits are used for tender engines.

For example:

• Bilecik banking engines n°5701 is a 1'E1't tank engine (2-10-2t)
• Engine n° 56501 refers to a 1'E (2-10-0). Decapods being quite common on the Turkish network, the number 56xxx is frequently encountered.

As seen above, TCDD is not using a strict "class" number or designation for each type of engines. However in most cases, serial numbers in sequence are usually used for identical engines. Therefore, the first numbers of the series are used as a proxy for class number. For example 56301 refers to the Vulcan Foundry Decapods, 56501 is the type BR52 Kriegsloks. Unfortunatly, there are several case of identical engines numbered in non following sequence. A classic example is the CFOA 1'C numbered by TCDD 34001 to 34018 and 34046 to 34048.

The serial numbers are not indicating the years of acquisition. For example, the 56301 are 1948/49 engines whereas the 56911 are 1926/27 engines. Numbers are not indicatives of the gauge either. And of course, like any self-respecting railway, TCDD as some overlapping numbers, missing numbers and other oddities!

First World War

Soon after the start of the First World War the Ottoman Empire signed an alliance treaty with Germany (August 2, 1914) and declared war on France and UK on November 5, 1914. This started a time of great turmoil for Ottomans railways. The Ottomans had to fight on multiple fronts several thousand kilometers apart (Dardanels, Baghdad, Palestine, Erzurum, …) and the meager railways resources were soon stretched out. The German provided assistance to complete the Baghdad Railways and they send war engines, mostly G8 but also G5¹, G5⁴, G7¹, G7² and G8¹.

Some British ROD 060 GWR Dean Goods found their way to the ORC and then to TCDD. They were presumably shipped to Turkey when Istanbul and part of the CFOA was under British control in 1918/1922.

Second World War

TCDD kept expanding its network throughout the 1930's opening important route (Sivas line in 1932, Zonguldak in 1937, Erzurum line in 1939). Thus motive power needs greatly increased and TCDD placed orders for locomotives in UK and Germany. The beginning of the Second World War disturbed the delivery of these new engines. Turkey remained neutral during the Second World War and the Turkish government played smartly the odds and found itself courted by the British and the German. Both agreed to deliver war engines to TCDD. Consequently, some of the most popular war engine could be seen working in the 50's in Turkey:

• German BR44ük and BR52
• British LMS Stanier 8F
• American S160 and S200.

On top of all, these engines were working with units from world war one (mostly German G8), and at the Syrian Border, they met DHP Austerity 2-10-0!

See also:

• Chronology of some Turkish history key historical dates from 1850 to 1950
• The abbreviation page for details of railways and manufacturer abbreviations used
• Preserved Engines page for a list of steam engines still existing.

Standard Gauge Tank Locomotives List

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Tot. Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
2201	2204	B't	4	1889	Sharp Stewart	Ex ORC
2251	2251	B't	1	1874	Krauss	Ex CO
3301	3310	C't	10	1918	Henschel	Ex Turkish Army, WW1 order
3311	3325	C't	15	1929	Nohab
3326	3328	C't	3	1896	Esslingen Saronno	Ex CFOA
3326	3329	C't	3	1913	Hanomag	Nbr 3326, 3327, 3329: ex Baghdad Rly.
3330	3330	C't	1	1885	Dick Kerr	Ex MTA
3351	3355	C't	5	1911/12	Maffei	Ex SCP
3361	3362	C't	2	1888/91	Stephenson	Ex ORC
3371	3371	C't	1	1885		Ex ORC
3401	3408	1'C't	8	1905/09	Borsig	Ex CFOA
3411	3413	C1't	3	1911	Stephenson	Ex ORC Rly
3501	3505	1'C1't	5	1909	Maffei	Ex Baghdad Rly, Ex Mersin Adana Rly
3511	3516	1'C1't	6	1923	Corpet-Louvet	Ex SCP
3551	3560	1'C1't	10	1911/12	Maffei	Ex CO
3701	3708	2'C2't	8	1925	Henschel	Ordered by CFOA but delivered to TCDD, Similar to KPEV T18
4401	4402	D't	2	1928	Schwartzkopff
4501	4503	D1't	3	1911	Stephenson	Ex ORC
5701	5704	1'E1't	4	1951	2 Henschel in 1951, 2 by Jung in 1952	Similar to BR85, for banking at Bilecik

Standard Gauge Tender Locomotives List

23001 to 24002

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Tot. Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
23001	23006	1'B	6	1884	Sharp Stewart	Ex ORC
24001	24002	2'B	2	1890	Neilson	Ex ORC

33001 to 33506

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Tot. Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
33001	33010	C	10	1890	Esslingen Saronno	Ex CFOA
33011	33018	C	8	1889	Sharp Stewart	Ex ORC
33021	33026	C	6	1911	Stephenson	Ex ORC
33031	33032	C	2	1868/70	Swindon	Ex ORC, supplied by ROD during WW1
33031	33036	C	6		Esslingen Saronno	Ex Cenup, identical to 33001
33041	33041	C	1	1883	Swindon	Ex Great Western Railway (GB), supplied by ROD during WW1, ex ORC
33501	33508	C	8	1872	Hanomag	Ex CO
34001	34018	1'C	19	1911/14	Hanomag / Borsig	Ex CFOA, Ex Baghdad Rly
34019	34025	1'C	7			Ex KPEV G54
34026	34032	1'C	7	1894	Maffei	Type G52 Ex CFOA
34041	34045	1'C	5	1905	Cail	Ex Baghdad Rly
34046	34048	1'C	3	1914	Hanomag, Borsig	Ex Baghdad Rly, ex Cenup, identical to 34001
34051	34060	1'C	10	1930	Nohab
34061	34068	1'C	8	1933	Henschel, Krupp	Similar to BR24
35001	35009	2'C	9	1900	Maffei	Ex SCP
35501	35503	2'C	3	1897	Wiener Neustadt	Ex CO
35504	35506	2'C	3	1908	Maffei	Ex CO

44001 to 46253

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Tot. Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
44001	44083	D	84	1912		Type G8, Various origins
44091	44094	D	4	1906	Stephenson	Ex ORC Rly
44101	44102	D	2	1915	Henschel	Type G81, Ex Prussian Rly, Ex German Army
44103	44106	D	4	1912	Maffei	Ex CFOA
44107	44108	D	2	1909	Henschel	Ex CFOA
44501	44509	D	9	1910	Henschel	Ex CO
45001	45062	1'D	62	1927/35	Nohab / Tubize	Similar to KPEV G82
45101	45115	1'D	15	1909	Henschel	Ex CFOA
45121	45132	1'D	12	1912	Humbolt	Ex SCP Rly
45151	45170	1'D	20	1940/41	North British	LMS Stanier 8F
45171	45220	1'D	50	1943	ALCO, Baldwin, Lima	USRA S160
45501	45518	1'D	18	1924	Batignolles, Creusot	Ex CO
46001	46010	2'D	13	1926	Henschel	Design derived from KPEV P8
46011	46025	2'D	12	1932	Henschel, Krupp	Very similar to 46001
46051	46061	1'D1'	11	1937	Henschel	Similar to BR41
46101	46106	1'D1'	6	1929/32	Stephenson	Ex ORC Rly
46201	46229	1'D1'	29	1942	ALCO, Baldwin, Lima	USATC S200 "Middle East" Class
46230	46253	1'D1'	24	1942	ALCO, Baldwin, Lima	USATC S200 "Middle East" Class, Ex MEF /IqSR, purchased in 1946.

55001 to 57027

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Tot. Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
55001	55049	E	49	1922/27	Nohab, Schwarzkopff, Henschel	Type G10
56001	56079	1'E	79	1937/41	Henschel, Krupp, BMAG, Esslingen
56080	56116	1'E	37	1948	Vulcan Foundry (GB), Beyer Peacock
56117	56166	1'E	50	1949	Skoda, CKD
56201	56202	1'E	2	1961	TCDD	T56201 "Black Wolf" from Eskisehir workshop, T56202 "Grey Wolf" from Sivas workshop, based on Skoda design
56301	56388	1'E	88	1947/49	Vulcan Iron Works (USA)	"Skyliners"
56501	56553	1'E	53	1943	Henschel, Borsig, MBA, Schwarzkopff, WLF	BR52 "Kriegslok"
56701	56748	1'E	48	1943	Schneider, Fives Lille, SFCM Cail, Batignolles	BR44ük, ex SNCF 150X. Purchased from SNCF in 1955
56901	56910	1'E	10	1917	Henschel	Transition design between the G121 and the BR44.
56911	56918	1'E	8	1926/27	Corpet-Louvet	Ex SCP Rly
57001	57027	1'E1'	27	1932/37	Henschel, Krupp, Schwarzkopff,

Narrow Gauge Locomotives List

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Tot. Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
2291	2291	B't	1	1874	La Meuse	1000mm, Mudanya Bursa
3391	3397	C't	7	1893	Krauss	750mm, Ilica Palamutluk
33901	33950	C't	50	1914?	Russian-built	750mm, Sarikamis Erzurum
33951	33985	C't	35	1916	Alco	750mm, Sarikamis Erzurum
34801	34804	1'C't	4	1924	Krauss, Henschel	750mm, Samsun Carsamba
34851	34851	1'C't	1	1912	La Meuse	1000mm, Mudanya Bursa
46001	46004	1'D1'	4		TCDD Eskisehir	600mm, KL46001, Ankara and Izmir Park

Broad Gauge Locomotives

These loco were taken over along with the broad gauge line to Kars.

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Total Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
34901	34901	C1't	1	1913	Kolomna	5' Gauge
44901	44905	D	5			5' Gauge
44951	44951	D	1			5' Gauge

Steam railcar

TCDD had one class of steam railcar. These units saw little service and where quickly withdrawn.

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Total Qty	First year	Manufacturer	Remark
Otomotris 1	Otomotris 3	(1A)'2'	3	1932	Esslingen

Articulated steam engine in Turkey

Despite a network combining sharp curves and steep gradients, TCDD never acquired articulated steam engines and stick to Decapods.

Private companies before TCDD experimented some articulated locomotives. It is likely that some of these engines were still in operation when TCDD took over from their previous owners. TCDD itself reports some large engines to UIC.

UIC statistics for TCDD, engines with 6 or more driving axles:

Year	Quantity
1935	1
1936 (1935 info repeated)	1
1937	2
1946	1

However, we have no evidence of TCDD actually giving inventory number to any of these locomotives.

Nbr. from	to	Axle	Total built	First year	Manufacturer	Company	Type
601	603	1C'C	3	1918	Magyar Allami Vas Acélés Gépgyarak	CO	Mallet
101	106	B'B	6	1895	Maffei	CFOA	Mallet
225	225	1D'D'1	1	1927	Beyer Peacok	ORC	Garrat

The Russian army used briefly some 1067mm gauge Garrat on the eastern front during WW1.