The Class 1099.

A unique class in Austria, these narrow gauge overhead electric locomotives were built for the Mariazellerbahn by Krauss using Siemens electrics. Sixteen were built between 1909 and 1914 and have been in service ever since.

Their arrival displaced many steam locomotives from the passenger service, and one of these Mh6 still operates on Nostalgie services alongside the 1099.

All but one remain in service, number 15 having been derailed on the Buchgraben viaduct on 11 February 1981 and deemed beyond economic repair, it was cut up on site. The rest of the class can be seen single and double heading services along the route.

Over time, they have appeared in a variety of liveries from their original Mariazellerbahn brown, through to today, when most are in red and cream with number 7 sporting a newer red, white and brown colour scheme. All have full ÖBB numbers but some carry the class, a point and two digits, while others have the full class, three digits and a check digit. At least one has been observed with both styles simultaneously.

They each carry an appropriate name and the crest of a local community. All the locos were re-bodied between 1959 and 1962, but retain other original components.

Roco offers a standard gauge transporter in HO carrying an HOe model of 1099.02. and the loco itself was available in their HOe range. Stängl have also made models of three of the locos - 1099.02, 1099.14 and 1099.007, but all three are now out of stock. The coaches and the class 4090 EMU models are, however, still available. WMK (Wiener Modellbau Kompanie) produce a model of a class 1099 with the original body style and bar pantographs. Ferro Trains also have various 1099s listed in their catalogue.

Click on the picture to enlarge

Click video for moving pictures!

		Number 1 (1099 001-8) Landshauptstadt St Pölten
		Number 2 (1099 002-6) Gosing a d Otscherland Front number .02 with flugelrad, side 002-6 Grey frames
		Number 3 (1099 003-4) Weinberg
		Number 4 (1099 004-2) Frankenfels
		Number 5 (1099 005-9) Schwarzenbach a d Pielach
		Number 6 (1099 006-7) Kirchberg / Piel numbered as .06 with flugelrad named Gerhard Hackner inside cab
		Number 7 (1099 007-5) Mariazell in new red. white and brown livery
		Number 8 (1099 008-3) Loich named Berta on side adjacent to cab door
		Number 9 (1099 009-1) Rabenstein a d Piel
		Number 10 (1099 010-9) Hofstetten Grünau Also named Dulcinea
		Number 11 (1099 011-7) Puchenstuben
		Number 12 (1099 012-5) formerly Hofstetten Grünau
		Number 13 (1099 013-3) Annaberg appears as "Anna Berg"
		Number 14 (1099 014-1) ÖBB Nostalgieverlehr numbered as .14 with flugelrad named Rosinante in cabs
		Number 15 (1099 015) Loco damaged beyond repair prior to renumbering, and prior to introduction of names. More details in ARG Journal No. 24 (part shown below) and in note below
		Number 16 (1099 016-6) Obergrafendorf

1099.15 (part reporduced from journal 24)

What happened to 1099.15 is contained in the 3/81 issue of the Schienenverkehr Aktuell magazine when 1099.15 was reported terminally damaged in a derailment near Winterbach. 1099.15 was working train 6802 Mariazell-St Pölten on 11th February 1981 when the locomotive and at least two bogie coaches (type B4) derailed on Buchgraben viaduct and fell into the gorge. Five vehicles remained on the viaduct consisting of three bogie coaches (type B4 or AB4), a BD4 and what appears to be an F3 six-wheeled postal van. The magazine report states that the cause of the derailment is far from clear but an emergency brake application by the driver was insufficient to slow the train for the 35 km/h speed restriction on the sharply curving viaduct. The driver was unfortunately killed in his cab, but the fourteen passengers survived with various injuries. The locomotive suffered horrendous damage, coming to a rest on its side at the foot of the viaduct with one of the coaches lying on top of it and was obviously recovered from the site as scrap.

What you can see of 15,

The two motor bogies have been kept as spares and are shown here, 24 years after the accident, placed on two ÖBB narrow gauge wagons, one with a shunter's cabin (bremserhaus). They are being kept just in case.

The motor, at the inner end of the bogie, turns a flywheel with an eccentric coupling to a jackshaft drive, in turn powering a coupling rod connecting the three wheelsets. The massive construction of these bogies, now 98 years old, is proof that despite falling 32 metres onto rock, they were considered to be worthy of storage and possible further use. After a quarter of a century, the bogies would have been scrapped if they hadn't been useful - after all, the frame was made from the same gauge material, but that hasn't apparently survived - if it was twisted in the crash, it wouldn't have had any use. These have had all the components carefully removed. It would have been easier to simply cut the frame to release the motor and drive, then to unbolt something that had been there for 70 years.