150th birthday - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2011 - 65 Euro Cent

"You can not save a ton of weight on a locomotive, but a kilo in a thousand places." - This quote by Karl Gölsdorf illustrates in a very pointed way, with what great creativity the well-known Austrian engineer and designer sought outstanding technical solutions. Karl Gölsdorf (1861 to 1916) was introduced at a young age by his father to the complicated construction of locomotives. From 1880 to 1884 he attended the Technical University in Vienna, where he graduated with honors. In 1885 he joined the "Wiener Maschinenfabrik", four years later he became the assembly manager in locomotive production. On November 1, 1891, he finally came as an engineer adjunct to the design office of the Austrian State Railways, where his literal "breaking" ideas took their creative lead. So he first invented a powerful starting device for composite steam locomotives, since the previously common devices in Austria with its sometimes difficult Streckenverläufen a train could not approach reliably enough. Gölsdorf owes its great fame, of course, to the invention of the laterally movable dome axles for steam locomotives, which were later even named after him (Gölsdorf axis). The first equipped with this machine was a fourfold coupled steam locomotive in 1897. This heavy locomotive, the "BR 56", is one of the most built of the time. From 1893 to 1916 Karl Gölsdorf was the chief designer of the Imperial-Royal Austrian State Railways, and over the years he developed no less than 25 different basic types of remarkable steam locomotives. His designs include such well-known types as the row 30 of the former Viennese light rail, the "Atlantics" of the series 108 and of course the series 310, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year (see brand image). This triple-coupled express locomotive with a four-cylinder superheated steam engine is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful of this era and certainly the most famous creation of Gölsdorf. As co-editor of the journal "Eisenbahntechnik der Gegenwart", his work also found the appropriate publicity among the specialist audience. In this context, his extensive photo collection, which is now owned by the Deutsches Museum, gained particular fame.