Back in Switzerland for a few days! The 110 km/h (85 km/h backwards) 2-6-2 passenger train steam locomotive 23 # 058 was built in 1955 by Krupp/Essen for the German Federal Railroad and was in service there until 1975. In 1976 it was taken over by Eurovapor and came to Sulgen in Switzerland. The first special train for Eurovapor took place on October 23, 1977, after which it was parked until the end of 1983. On December 1, 1984, it was put back into service, followed by many extra trips, often together with the Nostalgie Rhein Express (NRE). On December 30, 1998, the locomotive was to be transferred from Basel to eastern Switzerland, but a drive rod came loose while the locomotive was running at full speed, damaging the power unit, air pump, and also the trackbed. Refurbishment 2000 - 2003: It was decided to disassemble the locomotive and have it repaired at the Meinigen steam locomotive repair shop (Germany). The necessary funds were raised with share certificates. In Meiningen, however, only the tender was refurbished, the remaining work was done in Ceské Velenice (Czech Republic) in a former CD repair plant. In December 2003, the steam locomotive was transferred back to Switzerland. Unfortunately, the joy did not last long, because in June 2004 it suffered a broken drive rod during an extra trip. After another stay in Ceské Velenice, the return to service took place in May 2005. The locomotive was then placed at the disposal of "Club 41 073", which used it in the southwest German region until 2009. Planned lease to Holland: In order to be able to generate income with this operational locomotive again, it was decided to lease it on a long-term basis to the newly founded museum railroad "Friese Stoomtrein Maatschappije" in Holland. For this purpose, it was converted to light oil firing and transferred to the STAR in Stadskanaal (Netherlands) in 2011. Unfortunately, the museum railroad was not able to start operations as planned, and the locomotive returned to Switzerland in 2013 via detours. Now it was planned to use the locomotive on the beautiful Hauenstein line between Sissach and Olten. Since an operating permit for the new light oil firing system in Switzerland could only have been obtained with further, cost-intensive measures, it was decided to revert to coal firing. Use in the home country: In June 2017, the dismantling was completed and, after further work, the locomotive was put back into operation. On July 2, 2017, it was transferred to Heilbronn, where the German train protection system PZB was also reinstalled. Maintenance and marketing is carried out by the "Group 23 058 Germany". The locomotive was in service over New Year's Eve/New Year's Day 2022/2023 on the Three Lakes Railway in the Black Forest and came to Locorama Romanshorn in Switzerland via Constance on January 2. On January 7, it will haul a special Eurovapor train to Chur.
