The kkStB 69 was the oldest and most built series of rack railway steam locomotives of the “Lokalbahn Eisenerz-Vordernberg” (Erzbergbahn). A rack-and-pinion railway is a railway in which the motive power is transmitted, in addition to the normal drive, by a rack-and-pinion gear mounted between the locomotive and the track. One or more toothed wheels driven by the locomotive engage in a rack attached to the sleepers between the two rails. In this way, much greater gradients can be driven over than with a drive solely by the static friction of the wheels:
– traction railways (“normal railways”) up to about 7.5% gradient,
– rack railways up to about 30% gradient.
The construction of rack-and-pinion railways had its peak around 1900, when 4 Swiss engineers developed their toothed rack systems, which are still used today: Locher, Strub, Abt and Riggenbach. This meant that trains could now also be transported over steep gradients and mountains could be made accessible for tourism. Especially the latter caused a boom in the construction of mountain railways. The first examples of this locomotive were put into service in 1891. After taking over operation, they were transferred to the Imperial and Royal Austrian State Railways (kkStB) as 69.01-18.

Our locomotive was put into service in 1893 as kkStB 69.10 and was renamed in 97 210 after the “Anschluss Österreichs” in 1938 and the takeover of the Austrian State Railways by the Reichsbahn. After the end of the war, the locomotive returned to ÖBB stock and was taken out of service in 1979. After it was taken out of service, it came to our museum.