The MOLDAU to MULDE series of early, German steam engines were designed as tender locomotives for the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company (Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie or LDE) for mixed duties.
History As early as 1866 and 1868 the Leipzig-Dresden Railway had procured steam engines from Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. The nine locomotives acquired in 1874/75 differed from the older batch mainly in their modern Crampton boilers and inside Allan valve gear.
In the LDE the locomotives were only given names; no running numbers or classification. On being taken over in 1876 by the Royal Saxon State Railways most of them were given new names in order to avoid duplication. In addition they were allocated the running numbers 604 to 612 and grouped into Class K III.
In 1885 their classification was changed to K II and in 1892 they were renumbered from 696 to 704. From 1896 the classification just became II. From 1900 their running numbers were raised by 2000 and the name plates were removed.
In 1904 the first locomotives were retired. Several ended up in 1920 in the fleet of the newly founded Deutsche Reichsbahn. In the preliminary renumbering plan two locomotives were allocated new running numbers: 98 7301 and 7302, the rest were not covered.
In 1923 the last locomotive in this class, the former MOLDAU, was withdrawn from the fleet.
Locomotive table Locomotive table Name Works No. Built No. (1876) Name (1876) No. (1892) No. (1900) Retired MOLDAU 1336 1874 604 MOLDAU 696 2692 1923 EGER 1337 1874 605 RUHLAND 697 2697 1911 KOHLFURT 1338 1874 606 KOHLFURT 698 2698 1904 PILSEN 1339 1874 607 TRIEBISCH 699 2699 1921 FRAUENSTEIN 1340 1874 608 ESSLINGEN 700 2700 1911 WIEN 1360 1875 609 LOHMEN 701 2701 1922 CÖLN 1361 1875 610 GMUNDEN 702 2701 1909 BERLIN 1362 1875 611 GRATZ 703 2703 1909 MULDE 1363 1875 612 MILTITZ 704 2704 1921
See also Royal Saxon State Railways List of Saxon locomotives and railbuses Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company
References