Top 100

Oldest locomotives in the database

This list shows the oldest vehicle types in our database, ranked by the year their construction began. It opens with the Adler, built in 1835 by Robert Stephenson and Company for Germany's first railway between Nuremberg and Fürth.

These pioneer locomotives were small, light and slow by later standards, but they laid the technical foundations of the railway age.

Rank	Model	Type	Built	Year
1	Adler Robert Stephenson	Steam locomotive	1835	1835
2	SJS Litra Odin Sharpe & Stewart, @various	Steam locomotive	1846–1847	1846
3	SBB D 1/3 SLM	Steam locomotive	1847	1847
4	EIR Kitson & Co	Steam locomotive	1855	1855
5	SJ B I Beyer & Peacock, Motala, NOHAB	Steam locomotive	1856–1972	1856
6	Beattie Well Tank Beyer & Peacock, Nine Elms Works	Steam locomotive	1863–1875	1863
7	Furness Railway 17 Sharpe & Stewart	Steam locomotive	1863–1866	1863
8	Class C Fletcher Jennings &Co	Steam locomotive	1864	1864
9	SNCF 040A Schneider	Steam locomotive	1866–1882	1866
10	C1 Neilson and Company	Steam locomotive	1869	1869
11	SFT 0-6-0 Brassey & Co	Steam locomotive	1869	1869
12	IR B Sharpe & Stewart	Steam locomotive	1870	1870
13	LBSC A1 Brighton works	Steam locomotive	1872–1880	1872
14	IMR 2-4-0T Beyer & Peacock	Steam locomotive	1873–1926	1873
15	NZR A class YEC	Steam locomotive	1873–1875	1873
16	FLR 0-6-0WT Haydock Foundry	Steam locomotive	1874	1874
17	VR A5 VR	Steam locomotive	1874	1874
18	NZR H class Avonside Engine Company, Neilson and Company	Steam locomotive	1875–1886	1875
19	MZA 176-181 Sharpe & Stewart	Steam locomotive	1877	1877
20	NZR K class Rogers	Steam locomotive	1877–1878	1877
21	IR E Jodhpur workshops	Steam locomotive	1878	1878
22	KkStB 97 @various	Steam locomotive	1878–1911	1878
23	MAV Ia / 220 Floridsdorf	Steam locomotive	1881–1905	1881
24	Webb Coal Tank Crewe Works	Steam locomotive	1881–1897	1881
25	FR 0-4-0ST Hunslet Engine	Steam locomotive	1882–1883	1882
26	NSW Z18 Vulcan	Steam locomotive	1882	1882
27	FNM 200 Couillet	Steam locomotive	1883	1883
28	TCDD 23.001 Sharpe & Stewart	Steam locomotive	1884	1884
29	RENFE 020 0231-0240 Couillet	Steam locomotive	1885	1885
30	VR G1 / G2 / G4 SLM	Steam locomotive	1885	1885
31	Dinorwic Alice Class Hunslet Engine	Steam locomotive	1886–1904	1886
32	SJ Aa 75 Beyer & Peacock	Steam locomotive	1886	1886
33	DRG 89.7 Breda, Henschel, O&K	Steam locomotive	1887–1924	1887
34	L VII Jung, Krauss	Steam locomotive	1887	1887
35	SOB Ed 3/3 Esslingen	Steam locomotive	1887	1887
36	1 bis 4 Floridsdorf	Steam locomotive	1889–1896	1889
37	DHR B NBL, Sharpe & Stewart	Steam locomotive	1889–1928	1889
38	NZR W class NZR	Steam locomotive	1889–1891	1889
39	RhB G 3/4 SLM	Steam locomotive	1889–1908	1889
40	020WT O&K	Steam locomotive	1890	1890
41	FS 552 Ansaldo, Breda	Steam locomotive	1890–1901	1890
42	HG 2/3 SLM	Steam locomotive	1890–1908	1890
43	KkStB 69 Floridsdorf	Steam locomotive	1890–1908	1890
44	0-6-0T Robert Stephenson & Co Ltd	Steam locomotive	1891	1891
45	0-8-0 ARMF, Tubize	Steam locomotive	1891	1891
46	Eb 2/4 Esslingen	Steam locomotive	1891	1891
47	Ed 2x2/2 Maffei	Steam locomotive	1891–1893	1891
48	0-4-0 Jung Jung	Steam locomotive	1892	1892
49	NSW C32 Baldwin, Beyer & Peacock, Clyde Engineering, NSWGR	Steam locomotive	1892–1911	1892
50	Prussian G 7.1 Vulcan	Steam locomotive	1893–1917	1893
51	SKGLB Z Krauss	Steam locomotive	1893–1900	1893
52	JNR B10 Beyer & Peacock	Steam locomotive	1894	1894
53	IR F-1 Ajmer	Steam locomotive	1895	1895
54	kkStB 30 Floridsdorf	Steam locomotive	1895–1901	1895
55	SMR H 2/1 SLM	Steam locomotive	1895–1923	1895
56	LU E HLC, Neasden Depot	Steam locomotive	1896–1901	1896
57	K 44.9 Jung	Steam locomotive	1897–1901	1897
58	LB&SCR E4 Brighton works	Steam locomotive	1897–1903	1897
59	LSWR M7 LSWR	Steam locomotive	1897–1911	1897
60	SNCF 230D SACM	Steam locomotive	1897–1913	1897
61	EuskoTren 130T Nasmyth-Gaskell	Steam locomotive	1898	1898
62	FS 851 Ansaldo, Breda, Maffei, OM, Saronno	Steam locomotive	1898–1911	1898
63	GGB He 2/2 BBC, SIG, SLM	Electric locomotive	1898	1898
64	Litra F Borsig, Breda, Frichs, Hanomag, Henschel, Saronno	Steam locomotive	1898–1949	1898
65	Victorian Railways NA class Baldwin, VR Newport Workshops	Steam locomotive	1898–1915	1898
66	Caledonian Railway 812 Class CR, Neilson and Company, Sharpe & Stewart	Steam locomotive	1899–1909	1899
67	Ec 4/5 SLM	Steam locomotive	1899–1902	1899
68	FSE St. Leonard St. Leonard	Steam locomotive	1899–1901	1899
69	GNRI Class Q Beyer & Peacock, NBL, Neilson and Company	Steam locomotive	1899–1904	1899
70	LSWR T9 LSWR	Steam locomotive	1899–1901	1899
71	KkStB 178 Floridsdorf, Krauss, StEG, Wr. Neustadt	Steam locomotive	1900–1918	1900
72	789 Baldwin	Steam locomotive	1901	1901
73	GFM Te 4/4 EGA	Electric locomotive	1901	1901
74	Ov BMZ, HZTM, KTZ, Luhanskteplovoz, Sormovo	Steam locomotive	1901–1920	1901
75	RENFE 230.4 Hanomag, Henschel	Steam locomotive	1901–1903	1901
76	Tki3 (Prussian T 9.3) Henschel, Jung, Union	Steam locomotive	1901–1914	1901
77	GWR 3700 GWR	Steam locomotive	1902–1909	1902
78	ISR Krauss Krauss	Steam locomotive	1902	1902
79	KAI B25 Esslingen	Steam locomotive	1902	1902
80	MR 1000 MR	Steam locomotive	1902	1902
81	Prussian T 12 Borsig, Union	Steam locomotive	1902–1921	1902
82	SBB A 3/5 SLM	Steam locomotive	1902–1922	1902
83	WLLR 0-6-0T Beyer & Peacock	Steam locomotive	1902	1902
84	C30T Beyer & Peacock, Clyde Engineering	Steam locomotive	1903–1917	1903
85	CP 221-252 Borsig, Cockerill, Esslingen	Steam locomotive	1903–1926	1903
86	GWR 5101 GWR	Steam locomotive	1903–1949	1903
87	NSW C30 Beyer & Peacock, NSWGR	Steam locomotive	1903–1917	1903
88	Prussian T 11 Borsig, Union	Steam locomotive	1903–1910	1903
89	DRG 99.720 Borsig	Steam locomotive	1904	1904
90	G 4/5 SLM	Steam locomotive	1904–1915	1904
91	Krauss Bn2t Krauss	Steam locomotive	1904	1904
92	Bh.1 Krauss & Comp. Linz	Steam locomotive	1905	1905
93	Brigadelokomotive BMAG, Borsig, Esslingen, Henschel, Hohenzollern, Humboldt, Jung, Krauss, Linke-Hoffmann, Maffei, O&K, SACM, Vulcan	Steam locomotive	1905–1919	1905
94	DR 99 BMAG, Borsig, Esslingen, Hanomag, Henschel, Jung, Krauss, Linke-Hofmann, Maffei, O&K, SACM, Vulcan	Steam locomotive	1905–1919	1905
95	Ec 3/5 SLM	Steam locomotive	1905–1907	1905
96	SBB B 3/4 SLM	Steam locomotive	1905–1916	1905
97	SBB G 3/4 SLM	Steam locomotive	1905–1913	1905
98	2-8-0 (SC-3) ALCo	Steam locomotive	1906	1906
99	BR J27 Beyer & Peacock, Darlington Works, NBL, Robert Stephenson	Steam locomotive	1906–1909	1906
100	FS 835 Ansaldo, Breda, OM, OMI	Steam locomotive	1906–1922	1906

Figures come from public sources and may contain errors; obviously inconsistent values are excluded.

Oldest locomotives in the database

Top 3

Adler

SJS Litra Odin

SBB D 1/3

Other rankings