The “Saxonia” was the first functioning steam locomotive to be manufactured entirely in Germany. Since no one had any experience in building such a machine, one leaned on the “Comet” delivered from England. Construction began in 1937 in the newly founded engineering institute in Übigau near Dresden under the direction of Johann Andreas Schubert.

The two coupled axles with large wheels were retained, but a trailing axle was also added to improve handling. Although the trailing axle had been removed in 1840, it was reinstalled in 1842 after an accident in France and also retrofitted to the English prototypes, since from this point on the operation of two-axle locomotives was no longer permitted.

As with most early steam locomotives, inside cylinders were used, but also an inner frame. The boiler barrel and firebox were paneled with wood and the latter protruded far beyond the barrel and had a dome-shaped ceiling. The steam dome was also very tall and had a hemispherical ceiling.

Although this locomotive was intended for the inaugural run of the Leipzig-Dresden railway on April 7, 1839, it is reported that there were protests or sabotage on the part of the English locomotive builders, which is why the opening train was pulled by two English locomotives and the “Saxonia” only ran behind. Nevertheless, the locomotive continued to be in service, the end of which is not exactly documented. The locomotive was probably used until the 1850s.

In 1985, the GDR decided to create a replica of the engine that was true to the original for the 150th anniversary of the line between Leipzig and Dresden. One had to turn to the few surviving blueprints or contemporary literature, but tried to replicate the model as well as possible. However, since some of the original manufacturing methods were no longer familiar or modern safety regulations had to be observed, the original design was deviated from in many places. So the frame of the tender was clad in wood, as the original construction method could no longer be reproduced exactly.

After the jubilee run, the engine was kept operational and demonstrated its capabilities at speeds of up to 70 km/h. Today it is owned by the DB Museum Nuremberg, but is on display in the Dresden Transport Museum. It is no longer operational as the boiler expired in 2011 and has not been repaired since then.

The Royal Saxon State Railways grouped all uncoupled locomotives under the designation VIa, i.e. the types that only had one driven axle. As a rule, these were express locomotives with an 2-2-2 wheel arrangement, which is discussed in more detail here.

The majority of these were 40 engines which were procured between 1848 and 1868 in some significantly different versions for the Leipzig-Dresden railway. Another three were built in 1861 and 1862 for the Eastern State Railway in Saxony. Since the locomotives were manufactured by Borsig and Hartmann, they were distinguished by the designations B VIa and H VIa. The Borsig machines were preceded by two from 1849, which only had a wheel diameter of 1,524 mm and a cylinder diameter of 330 mm.

Distinguishing features were the firebox with a rectangular cross-section and the inside frame, because most locomotives at that time had outside frames. The appearance of the wheels earned them the nickname “spinning wheels”. A special feature that other early locomotives also had was a Kirchweger type exhaust steam condenser. The exhaust steam from the steam chests was fed through a pipe into the tender and directly into the water to heat it. However, this technology disappeared again a short time later, as the injectors that were soon introduced only worked with cold water and the steam introduced substances into the water that attacked the metal.

Some of the first examples were retired as early as 1868, when production of the last had just ended. Between 1873 and 1876, four were converted to the 0-4-2 wheel arrangement, with some retaining the tender and the others becoming tank locomotives. Despite their outdated design, the locomotives were able to last so long that in 1890 21 of the 43 engines were still in use. The last two were withdrawn in 1900 and 1902.

In the later type II, the Royal Saxon State Railways grouped together various locomotives with a 2-4-0 wheel arrangement that had been built between 1854 and 1875 for various railway administrations. The clients were the Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie, the Altenburg-Zeitzer Eisenbahngesellschaft and the Saxon-Thuringian Railway. The state railways also had such machines built and placed them in the same category. The 20 machines of the LDE with the names “Borsdorf” to “Zittau” are to be discussed here as representative of these types. As usual with the LDE, these locomotives built between 1866 and 1868 were not given numbers, only names.

An externally visible feature of the first generation of locomotives was the firebox with a large, four-sided cupola that protruded far beyond the boiler barrel. The Stephenson type valve gear was within the frame. In addition, an exhaust steam condenser was used to reduce water consumption, as was found on many locomotives at the time. However, it did not prevail due to the serious long-term effects of deposits.

The 20 examples were taken over by the state railway in 1876 and given the operating numbers 584 to 603 in addition to the existing names. Initially they received the type designation K III, which indicated the manufacturer Kessler. Later they were renamed K II and then only II, while they were given new numbers several times. The first ones were taken out of service as early as 1893, but the last examples only disappeared 20 years later.

The Altenburg-Zeitz railway company was founded in 1870 in the Duchy of Saxony-Altenburg to transport lignite from the Meuselwitz-Rositz mining area. In addition to transporting the lignite, passenger transport and other freight transport also had to be handled. For this reason, locomotives had to be procured that could handle both freight and passenger transport for the small company.

The five locomotives purchased by Borsig for this purpose had 1,525 mm coupling wheels and a leading axle mounted fixed in the frame. Other features included inside valve gear and a rudimentary cab. Between 1880 and 1888, five more tank and tender locomotives were procured. When the Altenburg-Zeitz railway company was nationalized in 1896, all machines were taken over. The numbers 1 to 5 were classified in the Saxon type II and provided with the numbers 745 to 749. The last three units survived until 1922 and were not given new numbers by the Reichsbahn.

In 1856, the Albertsbahn AG built an approximately 13 km long line on the Windberg south of Dresden in order to be able to transport the coal mined there to the main line near Freital. This route is still known today as the "Saxon Semmering Railway" and has gradients of up to 2.5 percent and radii of up to 85 meters. The first locomotives ordered were not suitable for this route, so three new ones were initially ordered from Hartmann in Chemnitz. These were delivered in 1857 and given the names “Elbe”, “Windberg” and “Steiger”. In 1858 another engine called “Freiberg” was built and only in 1866 the fifth, called “Burgk”.

In addition to two coupled wheelsets, these had a bogie with two leading axles and were therefore able to prove themselves on the Windbergbahn. In terms of power, they were also sufficient to transport the empty wagons up the mountain and bring the full wagons safely down the hill.

Due to their size, the wagons could be described as coal trucks and not as full-fledged freight wagons and each had a capacity of five tonnes. The trains usually consisted of ten of these trucks, which meant that the payload was about twice the weight of the locomotive.

The “Elbe” 1867 with personnel and coal trucks

archive Haus der Heimat Freital

With the nationalization in 1868, all five locomotives came to the Saxon State Railways and received the type designation H VIIIb T. To increase the power, they were equipped with a new boiler in 1877. This had an operating pressure of 8.5 instead of 6.32 bars. They were replaced by the VII T between 1885 and 1893. The new locomotives had roughly the same service weight as the modernized models, but since their entire weight was only supported by the two coupled axles, they were able to generate more tractive effort.

Fireless steam locomotives, are used to this day primarily in industrial plants where there is an increased risk of fire and/or where larger amounts of steam are produced during operations. Although most of the operators of these machines were private companies, the Saxon State Railways also needed a shunting locomotive for their sleeper impregnation plant in Wülknitz, where both of these conditions were met. One of these machines was ordered from the Sächsische Maschinenfabrik in Chemnitz in 1917 and classified as type I F. In the previous three years, four identical locomotives had already been manufactured there for various industrial companies.

The principle of fireless locomotives is that hot steam is introduced into the boiler, which heats up the water already in it and gradually causes it to evaporate as well. With increasing operating time, the pressure in the boiler decreases, which also lowers the boiling point of the water, so that new steam can continue to be generated even after several hours of operation. Otherwise, the design of the running gear and engine is the same as that of a conventional steam locomotive. However, since the weight of the firebox was eliminated, the cylinders were usually placed at the rear under the cab for better balance.

The locomotive for the sleeper impregnation plant was put into service in 1917 and given the number 1 because it was the only locomotive of this type on the state railway. It remained in action in this plant all of its life, which was later referred to as the Wülknitz track structure plant. They were phased out around 1970, although large series of new steam storage locomotives were still being produced in the GDR even in the 1980s.

As the I K, the Royal Saxon State Railways ran a type of very light and compact, six-coupled tank locomotive for 750 mm gauge. They were developed in order to obtain a cheap locomotive for the many narrow-gauge lines opened in Saxony from 1881.

In accordance with the intended use, the engines were simply constructed. In most engines, all three axles were fixed inside the frame, but the small wheel diameter of only 760 mm also allowed a short overall axle base, which is why sufficient running properties were achieved on the winding routes with tight radii. Only four of the 39 locomotives had a Klien-Lindner hollow axle installed at the front, but this was not used on the latest engines. Due to the short wheelbase, the boiler protruded beyond the outermost axle at the front and rear. The chimney had a clearly visible spark arrestor, since the area of operation of these narrow-gauge railways naturally often led through forests. The rope and the guide rollers of the hoist line brake, which was used to brake the train, were also visible.

Despite the very modest performance, 27 examples were taken over by the Reichsbahn after five had been handed over to Poland as reparations. They were given the numbers 99 7501 to 99 7527, but were retired before the late 1920s. Two of the Polish locomotives had returned to Germany during the Second World War, but were returned immediately after the war due to the availability of more powerful standard locomotives.

As a conversion from the I K, two Fairlie locomotives were created, which were created by coupling two locomotives each to the rear. This was done by removing the rear wall of the driver's cabs and thus connecting them to one driver's cab. These locomotives did not prove themselves, however, as the fireman had great problems loading the two boilers in the very narrow space. Two similar engines had already been manufactured by Hawthorn in England and these were also designated II K. These are also presented in a separate article.

Also worth mentioning is the replica of an I K as a museum locomotive, which was built in 2006, i.e. 125 years after the opening of the Saxon narrow-gauge network. This happened with the help of various sponsors and the support of companies, so that the engine could be completed in June 2009 in the Meiningen steam locomotive works and the total costs were significantly lower than originally estimated. Since then it has been in service with the Preßnitztalbahn.

With the Windberg railway, the Saxon State Railways operated a branch line near Dresden that combined a gradient of 2.5 percent with curve radii from 85 meters. Since the two-axle locomotives around the turn of the century were no longer powerful enough for the rapidly growing excursion traffic and the increasing quantities of coal transport, a more powerful tank locomotive was procured especially for this route.

Based on the IV K narrow-gauge locomotive, a larger Meyer-type locomotive with two bogies and a compound engine was developed. As in the prototype, there were two low and two high-pressure cylinders in the middle of the locomotive, which drove the front and rear wheel sets. To reduce rolling movements, the bogies were coupled to each other.

98 001 in August 1983 in Freital-Hainsberg

Wassen

Between 1910 and 1914, 18 examples were delivered, which were nicknamed “Windberglok” and “Kreuzspinne” (cross spider). Another locomotive was delivered to the Oberhohndorf-Reinsdorf coal railway and came to her sisters in 1940, when they were already owned by the Reichsbahn.

In 1925 the latter still took over 15 and gave them the numbers 98 001 to 98 015. The classification as class 98 marked them as local railway locomotives, although they were larger and heavier than most of this type. This can be explained by the fact that the development was carried out specifically for a single branch line and the focus was on suitability for small curve radii.

After the Second World War, most of the locomotives remained in service with the new Reichsbahn and were also used to transport uranium ore. Their life ended in 1967 when a diesel locomotive, the V 60, was ready that was also suitable for the tight curves. Today only road number 98 001 is preserved and exhibited in a museum.