Indonesian Railways class SS 800 / F10

Indonesian class SS 800 / F10
Postcard of 1912
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Hanomag, Germany Werkspoor, Netherlands Model JSS 800 Build date 1912–1920 Total produced 28
Specifications Configuration: ​  •  Whyte 2-12-2 T  •  UIC 1′F1′ h2t Driver 3rd Gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) Driver dia. 1102 mm Trailing dia. 774 mm Carrying wheel diameter 774 mm Wheelbase: ​  • Axle spacing (Asymmetrical) 1,250 mm  • Engine 9,000 mm [1] 10,250 mm [2]  • Drivers 5,000 mm 3,750 mm was fixed, with the leading and trailing drivers having some sideplay Length: ​  • Over couplers 14,000 mm  •  Over headstocks 13,080 mm Width 2,700 mm Height 3,750 mm Adhesive weight 57,000 kg Empty weight 57,600 kg [2] 59,000 kg [1] Service weight 74,600 kg Fuel type coal Fuel capacity 2.5 tonnes Water cap. 8.5 m^3 Firebox: ​  • Type round-topped  • Grate area 2.6 m^3 Boiler: ​  • Type Single dome  • Pitch 2,450 mm  • Diameter 1,376 mm  • Tube plates 4,950 mm  • Small tubes 109 × 50 mm  • Large tubes 18 × 133 mm Boiler pressure 12 atm Heating surface: ​  • Tubes and flues 131.51 m^2  • Total surface 167.5 m^2 Superheater: ​  • Heating area 36 m^2 [2] 40 m^2 [1] Cylinders 2 Cylinder size 540 mm × 510 mm Valve gear Heusinger Valve type Piston Couplers Central chopper coupling, 766 mm above railhead
Performance figures Tractive effort 140,000 kgf (1,400,000 N; 310,000 lbf)
Career Operators Staatsspoorwegen Class SS 800, F 10 Number in class 28 Numbers 801-823, H130-134 Nicknames Javanic Delivered 1912–1920 Preserved 2
Dimensions from, [1] unless noted

The SS 800 class, later reclassified as the F10 class, were a class of 28 2-12-2 T steam locomotives for Staatsspoorwegen , the state-owned railway of the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. They were one of very few twelve-coupled locomotives to be built. They were built by Hanomag of Germany and later Werkspoor in the Netherlands

After 1900, railways and railway traffic were expanding on the island of Java. Lines were steep and heavily graded, needing powerful locomotives that were also able to traverse a tight curve. A variety of gauges were used, but the majority were of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). The SS 500 / BB10 class  [ id ] were 0-4-4-2 T Mallet locomotives, but these were no longer able to haul the growing trains. A six-coupled Mallet, the SS 360 / CC10 class  [ id ], was introduced. These were able to meet the two requirements, but were considered difficult for maintenance, especially for leakage from the flexible steam pipes to the leading bogie. ^[3]

The preceding SS 360, CC10 class Mallet

There was a demand for a locomotive with as many driven axles as the Mallets, but without the complexity of articulation. ^[3] Hanomag produced a design for a 2-12-2T tank locomotive. The four central axles were rigid, the leading and trailing coupled axles allowed some sideplay, and this permitted tighter curves.

Design

Hanomag original drawing of 1912

Apart from the unusual number of coupled axles ^[i] and the overall large size for a narrow gauge locomotive, their construction was quite conventional, although using the latest techniques of 1912. ^[4]

To allow passage around tight curves, the leading and trailing coupled axles were arranged as a form of Gölsdorf axle with linear sideplay. ^[ii] The first and last coupling rods also had vertical pin hinges. Leading and trailing axles were carried in Adams radial axle boxes. ^[1] Although the sideplay allowed the locomotives to traverse a curve down to 140 m radius, the linear movement also led to rapid flange wear, ^[iii] and the curve restrictions had to be increased in service.

They were superheated, with Schmidt superheaters in 18 flues. ^{[1] [4] [5]} Piston valves allowed the raised steam temperature of superheating without the lubrication problems that affected some locomotives of this era.

The chimney had the internal opening displaced forwards within the decorative outer casing, and a small snifting valve was hidden underneath it, behind the flue. ^[1] In later years the locomotives were fitted with a plain 'stovepipe' chimney instead. To allow easy coasting down the long gradients, with the regulator shut, there was an unusual valve behind the cylinders under the driver's control that linked the two ends of the cylinder and so avoided any engine braking effect. ^[1]

The boiler was already large and high-mounted, in relation to the gauge, so for stability the side tanks were set low-down as skirt tanks below the footplate level, and could almost be overlooked. A large back tank was also provided below the coal bunker. Water was easily available in Java and the distance between watering points was short, so a large capacity was not needed. Despite appearances though, they carried a third more water than the earlier Mallets.

In consideration of the hot climate, the cabs were spacious and the side windows were fitted with sliding louvred sun screens. There was also a large clerestory roof ventilator.

Construction

F1015 on static display at the Jakarta Transportation Museum

Running number [6] [7]	Number built	Renumbered		Djawatan Kereta Api	Year	Builder	Works number
SS 801	1			F1001	1912	Hanomag	6450
SS 802–810	9			F1002–10	1913	Hanomag	6813–6821
SS 811–816	6			F1011–16	1914–5	Hanomag	7362–7367
SS 817–819	3			F1017–19	1915	Werkspoor	372–374
SS 820–822	3	SSS H130–H132	SS 820–822	F1024–26	1915	Werkspoor	375–377
SS 820–823 (2nd)	4		SS 823 (3rd)–826	F1020–23	1917	Werkspoor	418–421
SSS H133–134	2		SS 827–828	F1027–28	1920	Hanomag	9353–9354
Total	28					Hanomag:  18 Werkspoor: 10

The first of the class was ordered as a single example prototype. A production batch, bringing the total to ten, followed shortly afterwards. Further batches were ordered at intervals afterwards. No important variations between the batches, or by the different builders, are recorded.

In reference to their size, the unprecedented wheel arrangement, and the other recent enormous transport innovation of that year, they acquired the nickname 'Javanics'. ^[8] This also gave rise to Javanic as a generic name within the Whyte notation for the 2-12-2 layout, just as Atlantic and Pacific had already become established. ^{[9] [10]}

During World War I, the Netherlands were neutral and continued to trade with Germany. However locomotives were not available from Hanomag and so new ones were ordered from Werkspoor instead. After the war, in 1920, a last batch were obtained, this time again from Hanomag.

Service history

A coal train from the Ombilin Coal Mine in Sawah Loento, to power station. Immediately after the Sawah Loento-Solok railway line was repaired, January 1949, during the Indonesian War of Independence.

F10 08, Kertosono, East Java, August 1972

Initially Staatsspoorwegen used the locomotives in the mountainous Parahyangan (Preanger) region of West Java, based at Bandung locomotive depot. ^[3] Railways in the Dutch East Indies at this time consisted of several isolated systems, separated by long distances, and of several different gauges. The locomotives were designed for a minimum curve radius of around 150 m and although they coped with this, flange wear was excessive. Over their careers, and once the later large SS 1600 Mallets were available, they were gradually moved to lines with gentler curves. ^[9]

Around 1920, coal mining around Ombilin in West Sumatra was becoming important. Five of the SS 800 locomotives were moved there, transferred to the SSS ( Staatsspoorwegen ter Sumatra's Westkust  [ id ]) and renumbered as H130–H134. ^[11] Three were locomotives from Java, two were newly built in 1920 and may have been delivered there directly from Hanomag. ^[9]

After Japanese occupation during World War II and the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945, Djawatan Kereta Api ('Indonesian Railways') was formed on 28 September 1945. There was a general renumbering of locomotives and these became the F10 class, numbered F1001-F1028, the F indicating the six driving axles. ^[6] After the Indonesian War of Independence ended in 1949, there was some reorganising and renaming of the railway company, but this did not affect the F10 class.

In their last years F10s were also found in East Java, on lines such as Malang–Blitar and Jember–Klakah  [ id ]–Lumajang, working local trains of mixed passengers and goods. ^[3]

Withdrawal

All steam in Indonesia was withdrawn during a process of dieselisation in the 1970s. Locomotives were scrapped and cut up at their old depots. In West Sumatra, a number of scrapped F10 were seen in January 1981 and F1024 was identified as derelict at Padang Works, with F1028 derelict at Solok at the same time. ^[11]

Preservation

F1002 at Indonesian Railways Museum at Ambarawa, September 1989

Two are preserved in Java in static condition:

• F1002 – Indonesian Railways Museum at Ambarawa ^[12]
• F1015 – Transportation Museum at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Cipayung ^[13]

Some sources ^[iv] claim that in 1986, F1015 was taken to the transport-themed Expo 86 and 'SteamExpo 86' in Vancouver, Canada, as part of the Indonesian exhibition. This cannot be confirmed. F1015 had been restored at Padang works in 1985. ^[11]

See also

• History of railways in Indonesia
• Class E10

References

1. The only other 12-coupled class to be built in larger numbers than this were the 44 members of the Württemberg K class.
2. Gölsdorf's original pattern also made the centre axle free to move in the opposite direction.
3. Linear movement, rather than the radial movement of a pivoted truck, places the flanges of the wheel at an increasing angle to the corner of the rail, thus increasing wear.
4. See id:Lokomotif F10

1. 1’F1’-Heißdampf-Zwilling-Tender-Lokomotive der Holländischen Staatsbahn auf Java mit Schmidtschem Rauchrohrüberhitzer, erbaut von der Hannoverschen Maschinenbau-A.-G. vorm Georg Egestorff.[1′F1′ superheated steam twin tank locomotive of the Dutch State Railways on Java with Schmidt smoke tube superheater, built by the Hanoverian Machine Works of Georg Egestorff.], Hanomag drawing, 1912
2. 1F1 Heißdampf-Tender-Lokomotive für die holländischen Staatsbahnen auf Java, Georg Alpers junior, 1912
3. Oegema, J.J.G. (1982). De stoomtractie op Java en Sumatra[Steam traction in Java and Sumatra] (in Dutch). Kluwer Technische Boeken. ISBN   9789020115208.
4. "Twelve-Coupled Tank Locomotive, Java State Railways". Locomotive Magazine . Vol. 18. 15 August 1912. p. 163.
5. Metzeltin (July 1913). Fourteen-Wheeled (1 F 1) Superheated-Steam Tank Locomotive, Java State Railway. Zeitschrift des Vereines deutscher Ingenieure ('Journal of the Association of German Engineers'). pp. items 621.132.6 (.92) & 623.616 (.92), pp. 585 – via Bulletin of the International Railway Congress.
6. "Steam Locomotive Roster, Page 1". keretapi.tripod.com. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
7. "Staatsspoorwegen (Java)". Malayan Railways.
8. Yoga, Bagus Prayogo; Prabowo, Yohanes Sapto; Diaz, Radityo (2017). Kereta Api di Indonesia: Sejarah Lokomotif Uap[Railways in Indonesia. History of Locomotives in Indonesia] (in Indonesian). Yogyakarta: Jogja Bangkit. p. 108. ISBN   978-602-0818-55-9.
9. Self, Douglas (19 August 2016). "Twelve-coupled Locomotives" . Retrieved 19 November 2025.
10. Directory of Railway Officials & Year Book 1956-1957. London: Tothill Press. 1956. p. 421.
11. "Staatsspoorwegen ter Sumatra's Westkust". Malayan Railways.
12. Rob Dickinson (2000). "F1002". Archived from the original on 2002-12-31.
13. Rob Dickinson (2000). "F1015". Archived from the original on 2002-12-31.