The last class of tank locomotives developed for the
Prussian state railways was the
T 18. They were originally intended for services on the island of
Rügen as replacements for
Class T 12 and
T 10 engines. They emerged when a class of locomotive was conceived in 1912 that was to handle express and passenger trains in border areas or in shuttle services on short routes. A tank engine design with symmetrical running gear was envisaged because, unlike a tender locomotive, it could run equally fast forwards and backwards and could be operated on return journeys without having to be turned on a turntable. Its power and top speed were to be the same as those of the
P 8. Robert Garbe designed this
4-6-4 (2′C2′) tank locomotive for 100 km/h with a 17-ton axle load and contracted the Vulkan Werke in Stettin to build it. It was given the designation T 18.
A total of 534 engines were built from 1912 to 1927, mainly by the
Stettiner Maschinenbau AG Vulcan and, from 1923, also by
Henschel, of which 458 alone went to the
Prussian state railways and, subsequently, the
Deutsche Reichsbahn. The
Royal Württemberg State Railways received 20 T 18s in 1919, the
Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine 27 also in 1919, the Saar Railway (Saarbahn) 27 between 1922–25 and the
Eutin-Lübeck Railway (Eutin-Lübecker Eisenbahn) one in each of the years 1936 and 1939.
The Reichsbahn took over 460 vehicles from Prussia and 20 from the Royal Württemberg State Railways, incorporating them into DRG Class 78 with operating numbers 78 001–282 and 78 351–528. Of these, number 78 093 came from Alsace-Lorraine and numbers 78 146–165 from Württemberg. Later the engines from the Saar Railway were numbered 78 283 to 78 328 in 1935.
[1] and those of the Eutin-Lübeck Railway as 78 329 and 78 330 in 1941.
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