Class 403.6 | TrainsDepot.org

Class 403.6

Vehicle type: Steam locomotive

Registration country: Hungary

Railway companies: MAV / MÁV - Magyar Államvasutak GySEV - Raaberbahn

Vehicle's history

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1939

The MÁV Class 403.6 represented the second Hungarian group belonging to the kkStB Class 270 locomotive family. Unlike the domestically built Class 403.5, however, the Class 403.6 fleet consisted entirely of locomotives acquired from foreign railway administrations during the territorial and political changes immediately preceding and during the Second World War.

The group originated principally from the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD) Class 434.1. Following the territorial changes of 1938-1939, Hungary assumed control of railway lines previously administered by Czechoslovakia in southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia.

In 1939, 19 former ČSD Class 434.1 locomotives were incorporated into the Hungarian State Railways fleet. MÁV classified them as Class 403.6 and assigned the numbers 403.601 - 403.619.

The locomotives were not completely homogeneous in origin. Some had originally been built as kkStB Class 270 locomotives during the final years of Austria-Hungary, while others had been manufactured after the First World War for the Czechoslovak railway administration using the same basic design.

A twentieth locomotive joined the group during the Second World War. Former Polish State Railways locomotive PKP Tr12-91, another member of the Class 270 family, entered Hungarian service on 1 May 1941 and became MÁV 403.620.

Class 403.6 therefore reached a maximum of 20 locomotives, numbered 403.601 - 403.620.

1945

The final years of the Second World War again transformed the fleet. Locomotives were evacuated, captured or left outside Hungary as the front moved across Central Europe, resulting in Class 403.6 locomotives being dispersed among several railway administrations.

After 1945, many of the former ČSD locomotives were returned to Czechoslovakia and resumed service as members of Class 434.1. Other locomotives were eventually returned to Hungary through post-war railway equipment exchanges.

The former Polish locomotive 403.620 was likewise returned to Poland, where it re-entered PKP service.

Consequently, the post-war MÁV Class 403.6 fleet was considerably smaller than the 20-locomotive wartime group.

Some of the locomotives that remained in Hungary subsequently passed to the Győr–Sopron–Ebenfurth Railway (GySEV), where members of the Class 270 family continued operating after their withdrawal from regular MÁV service.

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