Southern State Railway “Bavaria”

The “Bavaria” was one of the four locomotives which took place in the Semmering competition. It was built by Maffei in Bavaria and used an all-adhesion principle. The locomotive itself rode on a leading two-axle bogie and two additional axles which were mounted in the frame with a long wheelbase. The leading one of the two axles in the frame was driven by the cylinders and the trailing axle was driven by coupling rods. To also drive the axles of the leading bogie, there were chains running from the main driving axle. Additionally, all three axles of the tender were also driven through chains and coupling rods. 

In the competition, the “Bavaria” won over the other three, maybe due to its greater adhesive weight. It was now bought by the state. However, further trial runs with heavy trains showed that the chains wore out very quickly and broke after only some days of hard work. With only two driven axles, it would have been much less powerful than the other locomotives which had lost in the competition. In the end, the Semmering railway was operated by Engerth locomotives in the first years.