FS Class 625

The Class 625 was a class of 2-6-0 Mogul steam locomotives of the Italian State Railways, nicknamed Signorine, or young ladies, for their grace. It was the superheated, simple-expansion version of the mixed-traffic Class 600, following the success of the Class 640 in the same rebuilding. Of the 188 new engines, 108 were built by various Italian firms between 1910 and 1914 and 80 more in 1922 and 1923, the last 25 of them by Berliner Maschinenbau. From 1929 a further 153 Class 600 engines, which had been built by Gio. Ansaldo & C. and others, were superheated and renumbered into the class, and some became Class 623 with Franco-Crosti boilers. The final mainline engines were withdrawn in 1976, and twenty-five survive in preservation.