Steam Locomotives, Croatia

Another train ride...this time in Croatia, featured by these two great steam-locomotive stamps sent by Agi!

Value: 7,1 kn
Author: Tatjana Strinavić, designer, Zagreb
Motifs: a steam locomotive of SüdB 18 series and a steam locomotive of MÁV 326/JŽ 125 series
Size: 48,28 x 29,82 mm
Paper: white 102g, gummed
Perforation: Comb,14
Technique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
Date of issue: 29.3.2010
Quantity:100000


2010 is the year when Croatian railroads celebrate their 150th anniversary, so these two locomotives were chosen to be portrayed on the stamps issue. These two locomotives were among the first participants in the Croatian railroad traffic and they, therefore, tell their own story of this year’s anniversary.
Steam locomotives of the SüdB 18 series were designed by Austrian constructors between 1859 and 1872. They were used to pull the passenger trains on the lowland railroads and also pulled trains on the first Croatian railroad tracks between Čakovec and Kotoriba, and Zidani Most, Zagreb and Sisak. The locomotive’s power amounted to 258 kW (350KSi), it was 8105 millimetres long, weighed 32.90 tons and could reach the maximum of 60 km/h. The locomotives were a part of the Croatian traffic since 1922. Not a single locomotive of this series remains preserved in Croatia today. A steam locomotive of the MÁV 326/JŽ 125 series Steam locomotives of the MÁV 326/JŽ 125 series were built between 1882 and 1897 in factories in Vienna, Linz and Munich, and since 1888 in Budapest as well. They were primarily used to pull the cargo trains but they were used for transport of passengers as well. These locomotives first operated on a railroad track between Budapest and Zagreb, and then they were also used on the Rijeka railroad. The power of the locomotive amounted to 302kW (410KSi), it was 15.131 mm long, including the tender, it weighed 48.750 kg, also including the tender, and it could reach a maximum of 45 km/h. Locomotives of this series were used for transport for sixty years. Only one locomotive of this series (mark 125-052) has been preserved in Croatia. It is now a part of the Croatian Railway Museum and it is on display on the Main Railway Station in Zagreb. The locomotive was built in 1891 in Budapest and it is the oldest vehicle in the Museum’s collection.