For this reason, the Federal Railways of Austria (Bundesbahn Österreich, BBÖ) commissioned the Floridsdorf locomotive factory with the design of a superheated steam tank locomotive, which was supposed to provide more output than the Gölsdorf 178 series and was intended to replace numerous other older series.

In addition, essential components were to be standardized with the 478 series shunting locomotive, which was being developed at the same time.

In 1941 the Slovak State Railways (SŽ) ordered 25 copies in a slightly different form, which were given the designation 431.0.

In 1944 the Wiener Lokalbahnen also acquired a copy of this series with a steel firebox, but it was too powerful for the tasks it was intended for, so that it was exchanged for the ÖBB 92.2256 in 1951.

In 1958, 72 units were equipped with a Giesl ejector and front-end throttle – six of them also with micro-spark arresters – which increased their performance by around 30%.