FS Class 420

The Class 420 was a class of 0-8-0 steam locomotives for heavy mountain work on the Italian railways, formerly SFAI Class 1200, Rete Adriatica Class 420 and Rete Mediterranea Class 480. In the early 1870s the Upper Italy railway needed engines for lines such as the Giovi and Turin to Modane, where 0-6-0s were no longer adequate, and chose a design from the Wiener Neustadt works much like the Austrian Sudbahn Class 35a. It was a long-boiler, inside-frame engine with outside Stephenson valve gear. Sigl built the first 60, and production continued to 1890 from Maffei, Ansaldo, Breda and others, making 189, and further engines raised the total to 293 by 1905. Some survived World War II as harbour shunters, but none is preserved.