| Landquart-Davos G 3/4 Rhaetian Railway G 3/4 |
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|---|---|
| G 3/4 No. 1 inside Landquart locomotive depot. | |
| Power type | Steam |
| Builder | Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works |
| Build date | 1889–1908 |
| Total produced | 16 |
| Configuration | 2-6-0T |
| UIC classification | 1′C n2t |
| Gauge | 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) |
| Leading wheel diameter |
700 mm (27.56 in) |
| Driver diameter | 1,050 mm (41.34 in) |
| Length | 7,945 mm (26 ft 1 in) |
| Locomotive weight | 30.2 tonnes (66,600 lb) |
| Fuel type | Coal |
| Fuel capacity | 950 kilograms (2,090 lb) |
| Water capacity | 2,600 l (570 imp gal; 690 US gal) |
| Boiler pressure | 12 bar (1.20 MPa; 174 psi) |
| Cylinders | Two, outside |
| Cylinder size | 340 × 500 mm (13.39 × 19.69 in) |
| Top speed | 45 km/h (28 mph) |
| Power output | 250 PS (184 kW; 247 hp) at 20 km/h (12 mph) |
| Career | Landquart–Davos Railway (to 1895) Rhaetian Railway from 1895) |
| Class | G 3/4 |
| Number | 1–16 |
| Locale | Graubünden, Switzerland |
| Retired | 1917–1977 |
| Preserved | 1 (in service) 1 (not currently operational) |
The Landquart-Davos G 3/4, also known as the Rhaetian Railway G 3/4, was a class of lightweight metre gauge 2-6-0 steam locomotives operated from 1889 by the Landquart-Davos Narrow Gauge Railway (LD), in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland.
In 1895, the LD changed its name to the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), which continued to operate and acquire G 3/4 locomotives.
The G 3/4 class was so named under the Swiss locomotive and railcar classification system. According to that system, G 3/4 denotes a narrow gauge steam locomotive with a total of four axles, three of which are drive axles. Prior to 1902, the class was known as the G 3 class, under an earlier classification system.
A total of 16 examples of the G 3/4 class entered service between 1889 and 1908. Built as tank locomotives by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) in Winterthur, the G 3/4s were made redundant by electrification of the RhB network between 1913 and 1922. Most of the class were then sold to other railways, but two preserved examples remain on the Rhaetian Railway today. One of the preserved locomotives is still in service, and the other one is expected to return to operating order in the next few years.
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The first five examples of the G 3/4 class were delivered by SLM in 1889, in time for the opening of the LD line. These saturated steam machines corresponded closely with a locomotive class that SLM had recently delivered to the railway now known as the Ferrovie della Sardegna in Sardinia.
Rated at 190 kilowatts (250 hp) each, the first five G 3/4s were given the traffic numbers 1 to 5. They were used initially to haul all traffic on the line, and that often led to problems, especially on the steeply graded section between Klosters and Davos.
Only in 1891 came reinforcement, in the form of two Mallet steam locomotives of class G 2x2/2, so that the G 3/4s could be transferred to less demanding duties.
The opening of the line from Landquart to Thusis in 1896 was the catalyst for the ordering of three further G 3/4s, which were numbered 6 to 8. These machines were more powerful than their forebears, and their coal and water capacities were greater.
Eight additional locomotives followed in three batches between 1901 and 1908, and were allocated traffic numbers 9 to 16. These locomotives were further improved and enlarged in comparison with the older machines. Their dry weight was therefore around 4 tonnes (3.9 long tons; 4.4 short tons) greater than that of the first series.
The G 3/4s of the final series were used in light passenger and freight traffic, and on construction trains.
The complete electrification of the Rhaetian Railway network between 1913 and 1922 left the G 3/4s superfluous.
As early as 1917, G 3/4s nos 3 to 5 were sold to Luxembourg. In 1923, no 6 went to the Administration of the Port of Recife, PE, in Brazil, and in the same year, nos 7 and 8 were despatched to the Domodossola-Locarno Railway, where they were put to work on construction trains. Also in 1923, no 12 was sold to work the factory sidings of a steel works in Sagunt, where it remained in service right up until the 1970s.
In 1924, nos 15 and 16 went to the Brünigbahn; nos 9 and 10 followed them in 1926. No 2 was scrapped in 1925, while no 1 was withdrawn in 1928, and then stored for a planned Swiss railway museum. The remaining machines, nos 11, 13 and 14, continued to serve on the Rhaetian Railway on shunting duties, and as steam reserve locomotives in case of electrical power outages.
Many years later, in 1950, no 13 became the only one of the remaining members of the class owned by the Rhaetian Railway to be scrapped.
In 1970, no 1 went to the Blonay-Chamby railway, after previously having been stored in various places in Switzerland, because there were no longer any plans for that locomotive to be displayed at the Swiss Transport Museum. No 14 was sold in 1972 for use at the head of heritage trains on the Appenzeller Railway. In 1977, no 11 went to the Eiger Model Railway Friends in Zweilütschinen, to be put into heritage train service on the Berner Oberland Bahn and the Brünigbahn.
The departure of no 11 left the Rhaetian Railway without any G 3/4s for the time being.
In 1988, in the lead up to the 100th anniversary of the class, no 1 went back to the Rhaetian Railway, and was put back into operational order. Since then, she has formed an integral part of the Rhaetian Railway's heritage train program, operating in combination with two G 4/5 class locomotives, nos. 107 and 108.
No 11 returned to Graubünden in 1999, after having been non operational since 1990, due to boiler damage. This locomotive has borne the unofficial name Heidi ever since participating in the eponymous film in 1952. No. 11 is said by the Rhaetian Railway's preservation society, Club 1889, to be being worked up to operational condition. There are plans to instal a new boiler into no. 11, and convert it to light oil firing, which, due to its lower spark development, would enable the locomotive to be used even during periods of high forest fire risk.
| List of the G 3/4 locomotives of the Rhaetian Railway | |||||
| Traffic number | Builders number | Commissioning | Name | Withdrawal | Later history |
| 1 | 577 | 08.07.1889 | Rhätia | 1928 | 1970 to the Blonay-Chamby railway, 1988 back to RhB, operational heritage locomotive |
| 2 | 578 | 05.08.1889 | Prättigau | 1925 | scrapped |
| 3 | 579 | 16.08.1889 | Davos | 1917 | to Prince-Henri-Railway, Luxembourg (No. 53), 1943 DRB 99 271, 1945 CFL 351, scrapped 1954 |
| 4 | 580 | 10.10.1889 | Flüela | 1917 | to Prince-Henri-Railway, Luxembourg (No. 54), 1943 DRB 99 272, 1945 CFL 352, scrapped 1954 |
| 5 | 581 | 13.10.1889 | Engadin | 1917 | to Prince-Henri-Railway, Luxembourg (No. 55), 1943 DRB 99 273, 1945 CFL 353, scrapped 1954 |
| 6 | 960 | 05.03.1896 | Landquart | 1923 | 1923 sold to Administração Portuária do Recife (APR; Port of Recife) in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil; missing |
| 7 | 961 | 19.03.1896 | Chur | 1923 | 1923 to Domodossola-Locarno Railway, scrapped 1943 |
| 8 | 962 | 01.04.1896 | Thusis | 1923 | 1923 to Domodossola-Locarno Railway, scrapped 1943 |
| 9 | 1369 | 10.06.1901 | -- | 1926 | 1926 to Brünigbahn (No. 217), scrapped 1941 |
| 10 | 1370 | 25.06.1901 | -- | 1926 | 1926 to Brünigbahn (No. 218), scrapped 1942 |
| 11 | 1476 | 08.01.1903 | Heidi | 1977 | 1977 to Eiger model railway friends, 1999 to Club 1889, currently undergoing work at Samedan Depot |
| 12 | 1477 | 23.01.1903 | -- | 1923 | 1923 to Sagunt steel works, Spain (No. 207, Algimia), scrapped about 1970 |
| 13 | 1478 | 02.02.1903 | -- | 1950 | scrapped |
| 14 | 1479 | 06.02.1903 | -- | 1972 | 1972 to Appenzeller Railway |
| 15 | 1910 | 31.07.1908 | -- | 1924 | 1924 to Brünigbahn (No. 215), scrapped 1942 |
| 16 | 1911 | 31.07.1908 | -- | 1924 | 1924 to Brünigbahn (No. 216), scrapped 1942 |
This article is based upon a translation of the German language version as at January 2010.
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