For the opening of Austria's first steam-powered railway, the Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nordbahn ordered two two-axle steam locomotives from Stephenson in Newcastle. They were of a standard type offered at the time and had a rear driven axle with five foot wheels. After a voyage across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, they were unloaded in Trieste and transported across the Semmering by horse-drawn carriage. They were baptized with the names “Austria” and “Moravia”.

After all, “Austria” was the locomotive that undertook the first test run on the line between Floridsdorf and Deutsch-Wagram on November 13, 1837. It is therefore considered the first steam locomotive that ran in Austria. A memorial in Deutsch-Wagram has been commemorating this journey since 1987.

With their 20 hp, they were soon too weak for most tasks. As a result, they had to hand over more and more services to the three-axle locomotives ordered directly after them. Since the operation of two-axle locomotives in Austria was forbidden after a serious accident in France in 1842 and a conversion to three-axle locomotives was not possible, they were soon parked and scrapped.

After the KFNB had ordered the first five freight locomotives in the 0-4-2 wheel arrangement in England at the end of the 1830s, they began to manufacture their own freight locomotives in Wiener Neustadt in 1844. Based on the 4-2-0 type from Norris, the bogie was converted into a fixed frame part and the second leading axle was replaced with a coupled axle. The cylinders continued to be fixed in an inclined position next to the smokebox and still drove the rear axle. Because of the low-lying boiler, the deep firebox reached just above the top of the rails.

The engines were given the names “Koloss” and “Elephant” and were delivered in 1844. In 1853 and 1865 they received new boilers with a larger heating surface. Although they were normally only known by their names, they were internally numbered 43 and 44. According to the new scheme from 1869, they were classified as Series I and given the numbers 308 and 309. They were phased out two years later.

In 1846, the KFNB had six 4-2-0 machines manufactured by Günther in Wiener Neustadt, which were basically similar to the Norris locomotives from the USA. They were lighter than other machines previously made by European manufacturers. They were given the names “Adonis”, “Jason”, “Deucalion”, “Phaeton”, “Endymion” and “Ganymed”.

The “Jason” fell victim to a boiler explosion in 1848. The technical data given refer to the state after the boilers had been replaced on the other five locomotives between 1853 and 1865. After the “Adonis” had been retired in 1862, all others were retired in 1866.

In 1862, Sigl manufactured five 2-2-2 express locomotives for the KFNB. They were named “Rakete^II”, “Blitz^II”, “Komet^II”, “Vesta^II” and “Neptune^II”. They were initially classified as type IVa and renamed Ia in 1869. They were characterized by an outside frame and outside cylinders.

“Komet^II” with driver's cab

When they were used for conventional passenger trains after the economic downturn in 1873, the single driving axle proved to be an obstacle. In 1882 and 1883, all locomotives were rebuilt into the IIb 1, which now had the 2-4-0 wheel arrangement but the same driving wheel diameter. The “Komet^II” came to the kkStB in 1906 as class 407 and survived until 1913.

Schematic drawing with dimensions

Die Lokomotive, June 1904

The 57 series IId machines of the Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn were the first Atlantic locomotives in Europe. The trailing axle was fixed in the frame, but was only just behind the second coupled axle. In the kkStB they became the class 308 and the twelve machines from 1908 with steam dryers became the 308.5. Three units were converted to the class 227 with a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. The Warsaw-Vienna Railway received 18 locomotives that were almost identical. After World War I almost half ended up in either Czechoslovakia or Poland. Regardless of the operator, the locomotives had almost completely disappeared around 1940.

The KFNB designated eleven 4-6-0 express locomotives that were built in Wiener Neustadt in 1902 and 1903 as class IIIc. Their area of operation was the line between Přerov and Ostrava in what is now the eastern Czech Republic. Their driving wheel diameter of just 1,500 mm enabled greater pulling power at the expense of speed.

The two batches of seven and four locomotives differed in that the second was slightly heavier. After the nationalisation, the kkStB initially classified them as class 27, but after the First World War they all came to the ČSD. In 1939 they came to the MÁV and after the war back to the ČSD, which used them until 1949. However, one had come to Yugoslavia in the meantime.