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Class 56.34

Vehicle type: Steam locomotive

Registration country: Albania

Railway companies: HSH - Hekurudha Shqiptare

Vehicle's history

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1945

Following the Second World War, Albania began developing its first permanent standard-gauge railway network. The country had previously possessed several narrow-gauge military and industrial railways, but the construction of a national railway system required locomotives and rolling stock that were not available domestically. Among the locomotives acquired during this period were four former Austrian steam locomotives belonging to the kkStB Class 270 family. Originally operated by the Austrian Federal Railways (BBÖ), they had been incorporated into the Deutsche Reichsbahn following the annexation of Austria in March 1938.

The four locomotives were BBÖ 270.110, 270.117, 270.227 and 270.308, which had received the German numbers 56.3408, 56.3415, 56.3457 and 56.3496 respectively. All four had been manufactured by the Lokomotivfabrik Floridsdorf in Vienna.

During the Second World War, the locomotives became part of the German railway fleet operating across Central and Eastern Europe. Following Germany’s defeat in 1945, they came under Soviet control as captured railway equipment. The Soviet Union subsequently supplied the four locomotives to Albania as part of its assistance with the development of the country’s railway infrastructure. The locomotives were available for the opening of Albania’s first permanent standard-gauge railway, connecting the Adriatic port of Durrës with Peqin. The 43-kilometre line was officially inaugurated on 7 November 1947, marking the beginning of regular standard-gauge railway operations in Albania. One of the former Austrian Class 270 locomotives is believed to have hauled the inaugural train.

The locomotives subsequently became part of the early fleet of Hekurudha Shqiptare (HSH), the Albanian State Railways, operating passenger and freight services on the developing railway network.

Their relatively moderate axle load and powerful four-coupled-wheel arrangement made them suitable for the country’s newly constructed railway infrastructure. The railway network expanded rapidly during the following years. The Durrës–Peqin line was extended to Elbasan in 1950, while a new railway connecting Durrës with the capital, Tirana, opened on 23 February 1949. The former Class 270 locomotives participated in the early development of these services, alongside other second-hand steam locomotives supplied from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

1950

As Albania expanded its railway system during the 1950s and 1960s, additional steam locomotives were acquired, followed by diesel-electric traction. The former Austrian locomotives gradually lost their importance as more modern equipment became available. Although the precise withdrawal dates of the individual locomotives have not been established, at least one example survived long after the introduction of diesel traction. Former DRB 56.3408, originally BBÖ 270.110, was reportedly still present at Shkozet, near Durrës, in 1998, providing a remarkable physical reminder of the Austrian origins of Albania’s early railway fleet.

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