FS Class 830 I

FS Class 830 I
The RM 6820 “Niagara” locomotive, later FS 830.014, brand new in 1903.
Stock type	Coal multiple unit
In service	1903–1940
Manufacturer	Breda
Constructed	1903–1906
Entered service	1903
Number built	44
Specifications
Train length	8.960 millimetres (0.02940 ft)
Width	4.205 millimetres (0.01380 ft)
Wheel diameter	1.310 mm
Weight	452 tonnes (996,000 lb)
Prime mover(s)	Coal
Engine type	Steam
Cylinder count	2
Tractive effort	6300 kg

The FS 830 locomotives were a group of tank locomotives used for shunting by the Italian State Railways (FS) from 1903 to 1940. The first 14 were built for the Rete Mediterranea (RM) as RM 6807-6820. Related to the RM 6801-6806, later FS 829 [it], they were the direct predecessors of the FS 835 [it] group. The frames and wheel arrangements of some 830s destined for scrapping were used to construct locomotives of the FS 234 [it] and E.321 and E.322 groups.

The design of the locomotives later classified as FS 830 was developed by the Technical Office in Turin of the Rete Mediterranea.^[1] Based on the earlier RM 6801-6806, it led to a first series of 14 locomotives, numbered RM 6807-6820, which were delivered for service in 1903^[1][2].

The Italian State Railways, which took over from RM in 1905 [it], commissioned the construction of an additional 30 units in 1905-1906.^[1][2] All units formed the FS 830 group and were initially numbered 8301-8344. From 1918, they adopted the definitive numbering 830.001-044.^[1][2] They were initially assigned to the locomotive depots of Turin, Alessandria, and Novara, primarily for shunting tasks.^[2] As of December 31, 1922, they were assigned to the depots of Turin Smistamento [it] (26), Casale Monferrato (2), Novara (12), Bra (2), and Asti (2)^[3].

Decommissioning from the FS fleet began in the 1930s. Some units were not scrapped but transferred to various railway companies, public entities, and private firms for line services, shunting, and industrial sidings.^[2][4]

In 1952, four units, 007, 010, 016, and 021.^[2], were sold by FS to Impresa Lagorara (IL), which managed shunting operations in the port of Genoa alongside Impresa Manovre & Affini (IMA). In 1969, when FS took over this service, acquiring the diverse fleets of these companies, they reacquired these locomotives and integrated them into a new FS 830 group. Since the original FS 830 group had already been phased out by 1969, there was no risk of overlapping registrations, so FS renumbered all the former IL and IMA locomotives consecutively. By chance, the original FS 830.007, later IL 7, retained the registration 007 in the new FS 830 group^[5][6]. According to Kalla-Bishop, the former IL locomotives were definitively decommissioned from the FS fleet by 1971^[2] In the same year, 1952, Impresa Manovre & Affini purchased five additional FS 830s, which FS did not take back into service in 1969.^[5][6]

Of the other units, it is known that in 1936, two units, including 830.001, were sold to Cockitalia, which used them on the siding of its Bragno plant;^[7][8], where locomotives FS 422.009 and 422.022 [it] were also in service, preserved since 1980 by the Piedmontese Railway Museum [it]. Other units were transferred, one to Montecatini and one to ILVA.^[8]

Eleven units, between 1939 and 1941, were transferred to the Ministry of the Navy for service on arsenal sidings. Among them, unit 039 was still in service at La Spezia in 1969.^[9] Finally, between 1939 and 1942, units 021 and 042 were leased to Ferrovie Torino Nord [it], which used them for line services as well.^[8] The 830.006 was still in service in January 1987.^[10]

Designed a few years earlier and, under FS, built concurrently with the first 835s, the 830s served as the model for the development of the subsequent and numerous 835 group.^[11] The frames and wheel arrangements of some 830s destined for scrapping were used to construct locomotives of the FS 234, E.321 and E.322 groups.^[12]

The locomotives later classified as FS 830 were saturated steam locomotives with simple expansion and twin-cylinder engines^[1].

They are divided into two subgroups, numbered 830.001-014 and 015-044. Similar in general appearance and construction details, the second subgroup was distinguished by a longer frame, which allowed for larger coal bunkers, and by the chimney, whose larger section improved the performance of the boiler^[1].

The boiler, larger than that of the 829 group due to a higher number of fire tubes, produced 7% more steam than its predecessor^[1].

During major repairs, it was replaced with the boiler from the FS 835 group (subgroup 835.317-370, later adopted across the entire group)^[8][13].

The following units are preserved in museums:

• RM 6807, later FS 830.001 (built by Breda, 1902), at Italiana Coke, Vado Ligure (Savona)^[10];
• RM 6812, later FS 830.006 (built by Breda, 1902, construction number 618), at "Casello 33" of the former Ferrara-Modena railway [it], Ravarino (Modena);
• RM 6816, later FS 830.010 (built by Breda, 1902, construction number 622), at the Center for the History of Railways and Tramways, Bologna^[10];
• 830.017 (built by Breda, 1906, construction number 758), displayed at the Ex-Breda Industrial Archaeological Park [it] in Sesto San Giovanni^[14]
• 830.035 (built by Breda, 1906, construction number 776), at the Selva Pergusina Park, Pergusa (Enna).^[10]

• Corbellini, Guido (1955). "Il cinquantenario delle Ferrovie dello Stato" [The fiftieth anniversary of the Italian State Railways]. Ingegneria Ferroviaria. 9 (5–6): 333–528. [reprinted in volume: Rome, Collegio Ingegneri Ferroviari Italiani, 1955; Rome, Collegio Ingegneri Ferroviari Italiani-Ponte San Nicolò, Duegi, 2005, ISBN 88-900979-0-6].
• Diegoli, Manlio (1961). "La trazione a vapore" [Steam traction]. Ingegneria Ferroviaria. 16 (7–8): 671–680.
• Ferrovie dello Stato. Direzione generale. Servizio Trazione (1915). Album dei tipi delle locomotive ed automotrici [Album of locomotive and railcar types]. Florence: Ferrovie dello Stato. FS Album. Anastatic reprint: Colleferro, Editrice di storia dei trasporti, 1979; Ponte San Nicolò, Duegi, 2005.

• Briano, Italo (1977). "Le vicende" [The events]. Storia delle ferrovie in Italia [History of railways in Italy]. Vol. 1. Milan: Cavallotti.
• Briano, Italo (1977). "La tecnica 1" [The technology 1]. Storia delle ferrovie in Italia [History of railways in Italy]. Vol. 2. Milan: Cavallotti.
• Castiglioni, Franco (1992). Vapore 1992. Le locomotive conservate in Italia. Musei, monumenti e vapore attivo [Steam 1992. Preserved locomotives in Italy. Museums, monuments, and active steam]. Turin: Gulliver. ISBN 88-85361-39-0. SBN LO10886442.
• Castiglioni, Franco (2016). "FS Gr. 830. Il gruppo che visse due volte" [FS Gr. 830. The group that lived twice]. Tutto Treno. 29 (304): 16–23.
• Cornolò, Giovanni (1998). Locomotive a vapore FS [FS steam locomotives] (2 ed.). Parma: Ermanno Albertelli. ISBN 88-85909-91-4.
• Kalla-Bishop, Peter Michael (1986). Italian State Railways steam locomotives. Abingdon: R. Tourret. pp. 68–69. ISBN 0-905878-03-5.
• Mascherpa, Erminio (1995). "Mille facce dell'835" [A thousand faces of the 835]. I Treni. 17 (168): 14–26.
• Nascimbene, Angelo; Riccardi, Aldo (1995). FS anni '50, Prima parte: Trazione a vapore e Diesel [FS in the '50s, Part One: Steam and Diesel Traction]. Albignasego: Duegi.
• Nascimbene, Angelo; Riccardi, Aldo (2005). "1905-2005. Cento anni di locomotive a vapore delle Ferrovie dello Stato" [1905-2005. One hundred years of Italian State Railways steam locomotives]. Tutto Treno Tema (20): 53–56, 59.
• Tourret, R. (1995). Allied military locomotives of the Second World War. Abingdon: R. Tourret. ISBN 0-905878-06-X.