FS Class 735
FS locomotive 735.128 as preserved in the Pietrarsa railway museum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS; Italian State Railways) Class 735 (Italian: Gruppo 35) is a 2-8-0 'Consolidation' steam locomotive.
Design and construction
The Class 735 was designed as a response of the situation developed during the years of World War I; the Italian railways needed more locomotives for freight trains, but there was no possibility of building them at home or in war-ravaged Europe. It was therefore decided to have them built overseas.
Using the Class 740 design as a pattern (but allowing for alterations in order to avoid delays in the production),[1] an order for 105 (later raised to 115) locomotives was given to Alco in 1916, and the following year they were completed, disassembled and sent by cargo ship to Italy (with only 108 reaching Italy, however, as an U-boat sank the ship carrying the remaining seven). A subsequent order for another 285 locomotives, with some minor improvements in the boiler, was given in 1918 to the Montreal Locomotive Works.
Their American origin showed in their being fitted with a Bissel truck instead of the Italian bogie widespread in Italy, and with the locomotives of the first batch having fireboxes made of steel rather than copper.
Operations
Nicknamed "Wilson" (in honour of US president Woodrow Wilson) throughout their career, the Class 735 locomotives proved very successful; pulling mainly freight trains but often also passenger trains, they operated until the 1960s, when mass withdrawals of the Class began, until the last one was retired in 1971.[1]
Preservation
Two Class 735 locomotives survived into preservation, the 735.128, preserved as a static exhibit at the Pietrarsa railway museum, ahd the 735.155, in possession of the Museo Ferroviario Piemontese, awaiting restoration.
Trivia
One Class 735 locomotive prominently appeared in the 1965 film Von Ryan's Express, starring Frank Sinatra.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to FS 735. |
- 1 2 Kalla-Bishop 1986, p. 67.
- Kalla-Bishop, P.M. (1986). Italian state railways steam locomotives : together with low-voltage direct current and three-phase motive power. Abingdon: Tourret. ISBN 0905878035.
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