what is it?
The Class S 2/5 express locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways (Königlich Bayerische Staats-Eisenbahnen) were the first steam engines in Germany to be built with full-length bar frames (durchgehendem Barrenrahmen). The prototypes for this type of frame were the two locomotives imported in 1900 from Baldwin Locomotive Works in the US, that had been similarly classified as the S 2/5.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 122 years ago, in 1904.
- Weighs about as much as 10 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 19.3 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 23 years (1904–1927).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1904
- in service from
- 1904
- retired
- 1927
- status
- retired
- number built
- 10
- kind
- steam locomotive
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- builders
- Maffei
- operators
- Royal Bavarian State Railways, Deutsche Reichsbahn
- top speed
- 110 km/h
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- wheel arrangement
- 4-4-2
- length
- 19.3 m
- weight
- 62.2 t
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q812276, Wikipedia: Bavarian S 2/5 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.