FS Class 691

The FS (Ferrovie dello Stato, State Railways) class 691 (Gruppo FS 691) was an Italian class of 33 simple 4-cylinder 4-6-2 Pacific built from the end of 1920s to the early 1930s.
==History==
In the early 1910s, the FS introduced the class 690, 33 Pacific locomotives designed to pull high speed passenger trains in northern Italy at 130 km/h (81 mph), but their boiler and firebox were found to be too small to produce such required power. In 1926, engineer Giuseppe Bianchi presented a new powerful engine called class 695 but the Ufficio Studi di Firenze (Florence Office of Studies) rejected it and decided to rebuild the 690s and found out that the requirements could be reached simply assembling the boiler of the 2-8-2 class 746.
The first rebuilt example was FS 690 016, in the Firenze Porta al Palio shops, where she recieved the 746-type boiler, cabin and Bissel truck, plus a Knorr-type feedwater heater. By 1931, all 690s had been transformed in class 691. Due to their size and speed, they were assigned to few mainlines on flat: Milan-Chiasso, Milan-Venice and Rome-Naples (via Formia). They were also used on the Milan-Bologna until 1939 (when it was electrified) and from Milan to Domodossola until 1955. etween Milan to Venice and Trieste the 691s also hauled the famous Simplon Orient Express, replacing the class S.685.
===Modifications===
*In 1930, on No. 691 004 were assembled smoke deflectors with bad results.
*In 1938, No. 691 026 recieved a streamlined casing, which was unsuccessful; by 1946 the casing had already been removed.
==Accidents and incidents==
*On October 30, 1939, No. 691 015 hit an ETR 200 near Milano Lambrate station. Because of the damages, the locomotive was scrapped.
*During World War Two, a young fireman named Mario, was badly injuried on his foot while working on No. 691 022. Despite his terrible conditions, he refused to be replaced and reached the destination in Venice, where he was finally recovered. He died in hospital the day later.
*In summer 1944, Nos. 691 008 and 691 029 derailed in the Ossola Valley (Val d'Ossola) due to a track sabotage by the partisans. They were both scrapped in August 1946.
==Preservation==
All 691s were retired and scrapped between 1962 and 1963. The sole surviving example, No. 691 022, is on static display at the "Leonardo Da Vinci" National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.
==See also==
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Category:4-6-2 steam locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:European Railways
Category:4-6-2 locomotives
Category:Streamlined locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Sole survivor
Category:Italy
Category:Locomotives
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
Category:Breda locomotives
Category:OGR FS locomotives