Prussian G 5.3
| Company type | Steam locomotive |
|---|---|
| Industry | Railway |
| Founded | 1903 |
| Defunct | 1930 |
| Products | Freight locomotives |
The Prussian G 5.3 represented a series of 2-6-0 freight locomotives featuring two-cylinder simple expansion, serving as the non-compound counterpart to the compound Prussian G 5.4. Similar to other Prussian locomotive designs, both simple and compound variants were produced for this model. Compared to the Prussian G 5.1 and Prussian G 5.2, the G 5.3 and G 5.4 were distinguished by a reduced wheelbase and a boiler positioned higher on the frame. To enhance stability and running performance at elevated speeds, they incorporated the Krauss-Helmholtz bogie. Manufacturing of the G 5.3 spanned from 1903 to 1906, culminating in a total of 206 units.
Following World War I, a total of 36 locomotives were handed over as part of reparations: Belgium received 29 units, classified as État-Belge Type 75; France acquired six, which were numbered 1851 to 1856 on the Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans network; and Italy obtained one, designated FS 603.001. Additionally, five remained in Alsace-Lorraine under the AL series numbered 4241–4245; sixteen were incorporated into Polish State Railways as PKP Ti3; three were assigned to Lithuania as LG class P 5.3 with numbers ranging from 659 to 661; and one was allocated to Latvia as LVD class Pn number 303 before later transferring to PKP.
In the Deutsche Reichsbahn's initial renumbering plan of 1923, there were 108 locomotives catalogued from numbers 54 601 through 54 708, alongside another group of twenty-four mistakenly classified as G 5.1 with assigned numbers between 54 169 to 54 181 and from 54 183 to 54 193. By the final DRG steam locomotive renumbering scheme in 1925, only seventy-one G 5.3 units remained in service, bearing numbers from 54 601 to 54 671. The last of these locomotives was withdrawn by the Reichsbahn in 1930.
During the course of World War II, four G 5.3 engines were reclaimed from Poland and reintegrated into service with numbers ranging from 54 651 to 54 654. The sequence from numbers 54 655 to 54 659 comprised a mixed collection: two former G 5.4 locomotives originating from Yugoslavia, a single G 5.3 returned from Poland, one G 5.4 sourced from Lithuania, and another G 5.3 also from Lithuania—all three latter machines having been recaptured from Soviet control. Notably, units numbered 54 651 and 654 had been utilized for powering Armoured train operations in Poland, while locomotive number 54 656 was returned to Yugoslav Railways (JDŽ) in the year following the war’s end in 1947.