The “Samson” and its two sisters were among the first steam locomotives in Canada. They had been ordered from Hackworth in Durham for the Albion mines in Nova Scotia. In May 1839 they arrived disassembled by ship in Canada and were then taken to their destination and assembled.

The three coupled axles were driven by vertical cylinders. The boiler had a return flue, meaning the firebox and chimney were both at the front. Thus, the positions of driver and fireman were at opposite ends.

Despite its primitive design, the “Samson” remained in regular service with the Albion Mines until 1867, during which time it also had to pull passenger trains. Up until 1885, it was used to assist other locomotives when needed and had a higher tractive effort than more modern, faster locomotives. In 1883 it made a trip to the Chicago Railroad Fair.

Only in 1893 it was rescued from the junkyard and preserved with a passenger car by the Baltimore & Ohio until it came back to Canada in 1927. Today it can be seen in the museum in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. This makes it the oldest surviving locomotive in Canada and also is almost in its original condition.

The Aussig-Teplitz railway was built in northern Bohemia in 1858 primarily to transport the lignite mined there. After the first passenger locomotives had been delivered by Borsig, in 1859 the first freight locomotive with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement was also delivered by Borsig. Since this locomotive was classified as too powerful for its time, initially only four more units were ordered between 1864 and 1867, which, however, were supplied by the Wiener Neustadt locomotive factory Sigl. They were classified in type IIa and remained the only ones of their kind at ATE until 1870. Only after the extension of the main line did the construction of 32 further units begin at Hartmann in Chemnitz and at Sigl, which became class IIb.

Characteristics of the locomotives were the disc wheels and the outside frame. The cylinders were on the outside under the frame, while the valve gear was on the inside. Although the lignite available on site was burned, a firebox placed between the wheels was large enough. Since increased sparks had to be expected from the lignite, all ATE locomotives were fitted with a large spark-arresting chimney.

The locomotives were mainly used to transport lignite and fulfilled this role well into the twentieth century. After Bohemia became part of the newly founded Czechoslovakia in 1918, the ATE initially continued to exist. Only in 1924 it was nationalized and incorporated into the CSD. At that time, 36 of 37 examples were still running, which now became the class 320.1. They eventually retired from service by 1938.

Since the Aussig-Teplitz Railway had a network with many gradients, the power of the existing class I 2-4-0 passenger locomotives was no longer sufficient at a relatively early time. For this reason, starting in 1869, a total of nine class IIIa six-coupled tender locomotives were ordered from Hartmann, which were primarily intended for use in front of passenger trains. Compared to class IIa and class IIb freight locomotives, they had larger wheels with a diameter of 1,370 mm, which allowed higher track speeds. Like the freight locomotives, they had a large Kobel chimney and internal valve gear, but unlike these no external frame. Between 1889 and 1894, 26 more, almost identical locomotives were ordered from the Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik and designated as class IIIb. The biggest difference was that the slightly more powerful boiler was now operated with eleven instead of ten bars.

IIIb No. 14 “Rauschengrund”

The locomotives were also used in front of heavy freight trains, but were mostly found in front of passenger trains. Most engines survived until the nationalization of the ATE in 1924. They were now classified in the CSD classes 322.3 and 322.4. While the older type was completely phased out in the 1920s, 13 examples of the 322.4 were still available when the Sudetenland was annexed in 1938. The Reichsbahn gave them the numbers 53 7401 to 53 7413. Since they remained in their area of operation during the war, they returned to the CSD in 1945 and were singled out shortly thereafter.

The type X d, known as VII a according to the new scheme from 1868, was the first freight locomotive to be purchased in large numbers by the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways. With more and more improvements, it was able to stay in production from 1866 to 1891, resulting in 171 engines from 17 batches.

To increase the adhesive weight, all three axles were coupled, with the power being applied by the outside cylinders to the middle axle. The Stephenson-type valve gear was inside, and the greater wheelbase between the first two axles compared to the rear two is visible. In the first three batches, a large steam dome was used directly above the firebox, later a Belpaire firebox and a steam dome on the boiler barrel were used. Boiler pressure was nine bars for most batches, but was increased to ten bars for the last two batches due to advances in manufacturing and materials. Later, some engines even received a new boiler with twelve bars pressure. Two and three-axle models with different capacities were used as tenders. After retiring from line service, some locomotives were converted into tank locomotives and received a new driver's cab that was better suited for shunting.

By the outbreak of the First World War, 141 of the 171 units were still in use and the Reichsbahn finally took over 44 units in 1925, including three units from the first year of production. However, not only these were already obsolete, but also the newer batches and thus all examples of the locomotive now designated as class 53⁸⁵ were retired before 1930.

After decades of procurement of the six-coupled freight locomotive of class VII a (previously X d), the Karlsruhe mechanical engineering company developed the VII d as a successor model. In line with the general trend in the 1990s, the new locomotive had a two-cylinder compound engine.

The first delivery from MBG Karlsruhe consisted of only two locomotives. These had a Belpaire firebox and inside valve gear, but the production locomotives used a Crampton boiler and the usual outside Heusinger valve gear.

A total of 59 units were delivered from Karlsruhe, but there were also 34 more from Maffei and 16 from Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. The model was initially the most powerful six-coupled freight locomotive in Germany. On the main line of the Baden State Railway, which has a gradient of 0.53 percent over a length of 6 km, freight trains weighing 500 to 630 tonnes could be transported at 20 to 30 km/h. However, as time progressed and more powerful locomotives appeared, the use of the VII d increasingly shifted to level routes.

In the preliminary renumbering plan of the Reichsbahn, the VII d was still listed as the series 53⁸⁶ and 53⁹, but it met the same fate as other older freight locomotives. With its low speed, it was no longer suitable for local freight trains and tank locomotives were preferred for shunting service. Thus, all engines were decommissioned by 1925 and not a single one got the new numbering.

Some six-coupled freight locomotives, built between 1868 and 1879 a total of 305 times, were called C III by the Bavarian State Railways. A distinction can be made between three slightly different types, of which the standard type made up the largest part with 239 locomotives.

The oldest variant included 52 locomotives, which the Bavarian Eastern Railway procured in five series from 1867. It was based on the type C, but had a larger-diameter boiler and more grate and heating area to increase power. They came into the stock of the state railway after the takeover of the Eastern Railway in 1876 and were slightly lighter than their sisters.

The standard type was created from the C II of the state railway and was produced from 1868. In contrast to its predecessor, it was driven on the middle axle instead of on the last one. The valve gear was still inside, but was now of the Allan design. The locomotive frame was on the outside, so the power was transmitted via Hall cranks. From the third batch of 1876, a larger boiler and larger cylinders were installed. The first two batches were later adapted to the later batch.

In the years 1872 to 1874, 14 more were added, which were originally built by Sigl in Vienna for Hungary with larger tenders and were not accepted. The dimensions of the locomotives themselves were almost identical to the rest of the machines, especially after the installation of a new boiler with the same dimensions.

The last locomotives of all variants survived until after the First World War and some were included in the Reichsbahn's provisional renumbering plan as class 53⁷⁸, but were retired by 1925.

After the C I, C II and C III locomotives, which were also six-coupled, the C IV was the first Bavarian freight locomotive that no longer had an outer frame. It was manufactured by Krauss and Maffei from 1884. The locomotives of type C IV had slightly larger wheels than their predecessors and thus not only reached 40 or 45 km/h, but were designed for 50 km/h. In addition, they were built with an air brake, which was not a matter of course for freight trains at that time.

In 1889, two examples with a two-cylinder compound engine were delivered, which proved to be superior to the production model. In addition to the increase in efficiency and performance due to the double steam expansion, the boiler pressure was increased, which was now twelve instead of eleven bars. Thus, from 1892 onwards only engines of composite design were manufactured, while the production of the simple machines came to an end the following year after a total of 87 units. A further 98 units were added to the two test locomotives, so that a total of 100 compound units were built by 1897. The series models had an even higher boiler pressure and a larger cylinder diameter.

Although the locomotives were soon no longer able to cope with the increased loads on main lines and were also too weak for many freight trains on branch lines, the Reichsbahn took over a large number of them as the class 53^80-81. The simple locomotives were retired by 1926, the others survived five years longer.

In addition to the D VI, six-coupled tank locomotives were also procured for steeper local railway routes. While the smaller D VI was built by both Maffei and Krauss from the start, these manufacturers supplied two different models for the higher requirements. One of them was the D V from Maffei, which, however, could not meet the requirements placed on it and was therefore only built ten times. In contrast, the D VII from Krauss was able to convince, and so both companies now delivered a total of 75 pieces at the same time up to 1885.

As with its smaller sister, vacuum brakes were installed right from the start, which were later replaced by air brakes. For use on steep stretches, it was also fitted with a Riggenbach counter-pressure brake. With the exception of one example, the Reichsbahn took over all of them and classified them as class 98⁷⁶. Their decommissioning began soon after the takeover and was completed by 1935. One machine each survived in the Nuremberg and Hof depots and was used there for shunting until 1960. A previously decommissioned example, the former number 1854 or 98 7658, can now be viewed in the Localbahn Museum in Bayerisch Eisenstein.