page_title: Adler (locomotive)
section_title: Operation and retirement
hierarchical_section_title: Adler (locomotive) / History / Operation and retirement
caption_attribution_description: Lokomotive "Der Adler"
context_page_description: The Adler was the first locomotive that was successfully used commercially for the rail transport of passengers and goods in Germany. The railway vehicle was designed and built in 1835 by the British railway pioneers George and Robert Stephenson in the English city of Newcastle. It was delivered to the Bavarian Ludwig Railway for service between Nuremberg and Fürth. It ran officially for the first time there on 7 December 1835. The Adler was a steam locomotive of the Patentee type with a wheel arrangement of 2-2-2 or 1A1. The Adler was equipped with a tender of type 2 T 2.
context_section_description: On 7 December 1835 the Adler, driven by William Wilson, ran for the first time on the 6.05 kilometres long track of the Ludwigsbahn in nine minutes. 200 guests of honour were on the train and 26-year-old Scotsman William Wilson was in the cab. In time intervals of two hours two more test runs were made.
  The locomotive was in use with up to nine wagons with 192 passengers as a maximum. In normal use it drove at a maximum speed of 28 km/h because the locomotive should be preserved. The normal run time was about 14 minutes. Demonstration trial could be done at a maximum speed of 65 km/h. In most cases horses were used as working animals instead of the steam locomotive. Because the coal was first very expensive most services were done as a horsecar. Goods were transported additionally to the passengers beginning from the year 1839. One of the first goods which were transported were beer barrels and cattle. In 1845 there was a considerable transport of goods. After running successfully for twenty-two years the Adler was now the weakest locomotive on the European continent. Moreover, the consumption of coal of newer steam engines was much more efficient until then. The locomotive was used in Nuremberg as a stationary steam engine. 1858 the railway company sold the locomotive with the tender but  minus its wheels and further accessories to the iron dealer Mr. Director Riedinger located in Augsburg. A probably unique photograph of the Adler taken around 1851, and probably the only one in existence, is in the Nuremberg city archives (Stadtarchiv Nürnberg). However, neither the age of the photograph is documented definitely nor is known if the picture shows the original locomotive or only a model. The second class passenger wagon No 8, built in 1835 and rebuilt between 1838 and 1846, was preserved because Ludwig I of Bavaria is supposed to have travelled in it.
caption: Photo of the Adler made in the early 1850s
exif: {}