Steam switcher configurations

I've asked this question on other forums... no useful response yet.

In North America, purpose-built steam switchers were usually 0-x-0 tender engines. In Britain and Europe, 0-x-0 tank engines. In the rest of the world...?

This question was brought on by my noticing that the (mostly British) fans who travelled the world for steam rarely photographed any non-industrial engine I could recognize as a switcher. I recognize that, on many railways, switching was dieselized first. Still...

South Africa is the only country I know of to have had US-style steam switchers. (In Europe, you'd often find 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 tender engines pressed into yard service, but these were older mainline wheel arrangements there. Therefore, those were examples of downgraded road power.) Their 0-8-0s look refreshingly familiar, but what did they use before 1928? http://www.sarsteam.co.za/steam_list_3f ... unting.php Is that what their 4-8-2Ts and 4-10-2Ts were for?

In Japan, I know they had 0-4-0Ts, suggesting they followed the European pattern. They must've had something bigger, though, but I've never seen them.

One fan noted that the only class of purpose-built switchers in New Zealand were 2-6-2 tender engines.

What of Australia? All transition-era photos I've seen show older road power (2-8-0s, etc.) as switchers.

What of China? Their last generation of steam classes (those introduced from the mid-50s to the early 60s) include freight and passenger engines, but no yard switcher. The only purpose-built switchers I know of in China were 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 tank engines in industrial use. And, to my knowledge, China only started series production of diesels in '64. So what handled switching before then?

India? Same situation. Most photos are from late in the steam era, when most switching was presumably dieselized. I've seen maybe one picture of a 0-6-0T.

I could go on.

Anywhere else?

I do know China built a number of 2-8-2 classes which were intended primarily for industrial switching service in the last few decades of steam production....

As far as I can tell the South African tank locos were built for main line, branch line or suburban duties, not specifically for shunting (switching), although many subsequently became shunting engines. H class 4-10-2T locos were converted to H2 4-8-2T between 1910 and 1922 after being relegated to shunting duties as they were prone to derailing in goods yards.

Class S, S1 and S2 0-8-0 tender locos, built from 1928, 1947 and 1952 respectively, were specifically designed for shunting. They all had cut-away tender sides for good rear vision.

In later years many former main line locos were used for shunting.

Lest anyone mistakenly think I'm an expert, I got most of this information from Paxton and Bourne's "Locomotives of the South African Railways".

Cheers!
John

v8interceptor wrote:I do know China built a number of 2-8-2 classes which were intended primarily for industrial switching service in the last few decades of steam production....

Yes, the SY. They are more general-purpose engines than pure switchers, hauling freight and even passenger trains.
That's exactly my point - a lack of dedicated switcher designs. My question is mostly about yard switchers of major railways, not industrials.

I've discovered that in Japan, at least in later steam days, almost anything was used as switchers. 2-6-0s, 2-8-0s, 4-4-0s, 2-6-4Ts...

It would be more helpful in general to find information from before widespread introduction of diesels in the respective countries.

From the viewpoint of Germany, we had shunting engines as tank engines, because they were close to the yards and shops, so can refill fuel and water more often, so did not need large fuel and water capacities, because shunting distances were much lower.
On larger stations, like on the seaside,close to harbour freigt stations, larger locomotives for switching (shunting) were used, and here even tender locomotives can be found.
So it was no uncommon to find 2-10-0 locomotives of the 50/52 type in shunting service on those large stations, were usually 0-10-0 tank engines do such jobs for heavier loads.
But also smaller engines, like the 0-6-0 locomotives were used to pull or push heavy trains together, and many of those appearently small locos had the power to even move 2000 tons. Not fast, not longe distance, but slowly over complete shunting distances.
Germany is small, compared to britain, france or US, so we had not the need for large locomotives, as distances seldom exceed 300 kilometers a travel. In countries like US this was "short distance", for Germany those were consideres as usuall long distance runs.

That's why in Germany usually only tank engines did shunting, because they had no need for large fuel and water reserves.

Dieselisation had come to shunting earlier, because: Steam has to keep all time alive, to be ready for the call. But a diesel, u can switch off and start, if the call comes in. So the diesel only takes the fuel for service, and does not need any fuel for the "waiting time"... The steam loco, not in service, waiting for the call, had still a fuel and water consuption, and so the costs were higher. Also a steam loco had higher maintainance cost in the shop, so was quickly abandoned, even if you lost the power to "overpower".. Because a diesel can only pull what was given in their power. A steam locomotive could be overpowered a little, and was able to push or pull higher loads than normaly given in their load tables. That was stress for engine and material, but shunting was often a deal with extremes, and therefore this was found in daily service and used needfully.
And in shunting, none asked how fast it was, or how long it took, it only was needed to be moved... what if you have a locomotive with 700 hp and the train load would require 1000 hp? Well, with a steam locomotive, you can try. Get water high, boiler pressure to the maximum, and then: use the boiler reserves and the carefully lifted throttle to move the train. Usually it was possible to move such larger trains.. in Diesel times, you had to split those trains or call and wait for the larger diesels...

I have seen two big 216 series diesels pullung a large 3000 ton coal train to the coal station of Mannheim. The switchers wanted to splitt the train, but the personal from the near power plant refused and called their switcher, a Henschel 1956 build fireless steam locomotive.
With a fresh reload the locomotive was coupled and noiseless started moving the 3000 tons in whole, without and poblems. Not fast, not in short times, but spooky noiseless slow but continously...

You might add to the list the 0-10-0 that Russia has. Quite a few of them were made, and they were so well liked that they were also used as road switchers or shifters. Powerful beasts.

Well,
0-10-0 Tank engines as switchers were not uncommon. As on the steep gradiants push-engines for the passing trains with the appearance of more powerfull engines did not had much needed, those engines were retired from regular pushing service and often made now the heavy shunting actions.
So the prussion T16 (series 94), the prussian T20 and the Series 82 were used for those purposes.
The later was especially build fpr that and got the engine and frame from the series 44, which was a 2000 hp heavy freight engine. So the driving part and machinery had no difference from the main line freight engine, so was able to move over 3000 tons without any help.
The smaller boiler might not have the capability for long distances under such load circumstances, but for pushing, pulling in short distances, it was powerfull engough.

So we can consider dhe prussian T16 and the series 82 as very powerfull, but nothing might overcome the prussian mosnter T20. It was build to replace the rag engines on many mainlines and remove the rag rail in the middle or the track.
That was realy very powerfull and was in service of the largest pushing actions on the steepest gradient in the german democratic republic and was used still after reunion with the german federal republic on many eastern main lines for the heaviest trains passing the lines there.

So that was realy a monster.... a 2-10-2 tank engine with cylinders, the largest ever mounted on a tank engine.

Nobody knows, if the series 85, a 2-10-2 triple cylinder tank engine for the blackwood forest ramps was more powerfull, because only the compare of the load tables isn't worth a guess, because those were not realy, what the engines were able to handle.
Prussion T20 are still existing and some were betwen 2004 and 2006 still in museal service, the series 85 did, except two engines not survive, and both were only placed as memorials...

So ten-wheeler tank engines for shunting was in germany nothing realy special.