page_title: Saxonia (locomotive)
section_title: Technical description
hierarchical_section_title: Saxonia (locomotive) / Technical description
caption_attribution_description: Information: Ausgabepreis: First Day of Issue / Erstausgabetag: Auflage: Entwurf: Druckverfahren: Michel-Katalog-Nr: Ländercode-MiNr:
context_page_description: The locomotive Saxonia was operated by the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company and was the first practical working steam locomotive built in Germany. Its name means Saxony in Latin.
context_section_description: From a technical standpoint the Saxonia reflected in the main its English counterparts. Only a few details exist about the design of the boiler. The boiler barrel had rivetted longitudinal seams, the vertical boiler had a curved, cylindrical top. A flat plate on top of the vertical boiler provided a platform for the steam whistle and spring balance safety valve. On top of the front section of the boiler barrel was the tall, narrow steam dome. The grate was designed to be moveable. 
  The steam engine was designed as a two-cylinder inside drive with a simple inside lever valve gear (Hebelsteurung) without a steam expansion stage. The engine drove the second coupled axle. 
  Both coupled axles as well as the carrying axle were fixed rigidly into the frame. The wheel spokes were made of forged bar steel. Later cast wheel spokes were fitted. Because it had an inside drive the second axle had to be designed as a crank axle, which is remarkable, bearing in mind the manufacturing technology of that time. A technical innovation was the trailing axle which had been intended by Schubert mainly to improve the locomotive's riding qualities. It was subsequently determined to be superfluous and was removed in 1840. From 1842, however, the operation of twin-axled locomotives was banned on safety grounds, so the trailing axle had to be refitted. The brake was initially a screw-operated band brake which acted on the two driven wheels from the top. Because this did not prove suitable due to high wear and tear, it was later removed.
caption: Stamp of the Saxonia
exif: {}