ELNA 0-6-0 Locomotives in Germany

Class Elna type 1 heizdampf (Locobase 21141)

Data from diagram offered for sale at [] on the DGEG (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Eisenbahngeschichte) website at [], last accessed 17 August 2023.; and "ELNA 1" in German-Wikipedia.de at [], last accessed 17 August 2023. Information on the Dawes Plan from "Dawes Plan" in Eric Foner and John A Garraty, The Reader's Companion to American History (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), pp. 276-277. See also "ELNA" in Wikipedia at [] (translated by Google), last accessed 24 August 2023.

In English, see: Allied Powers, Report No 6 of the Commissioner for the German Railways-December 6, 1927, pp. 79-80. Hohenzollern works numbers were 4536 in 1925, 4800 in 1927. BMAG works number was 10672 in 1931.

Caveat: The following advice recognizes that reputable sources disagree on many points. Locobase has tried to identify a representative type for each ELNA. To see all the variants of the design, Locobase recommends three websites still active as of September 2023:

1) Albert Gieseler's Lokomotiv-Baureihen page at [] beginning with BR 92 (look for build dates between 1924-1945)

2) The ELNA screens at dampflokomotivenarchive.de at [], whose subpages show all the locomotive identified as ELNAs.of a particular type.

3) Various Wikipedia sites using the term ELNA.

The unamed author of the Commissioner for the German Railways described the organization of ELNA as stemming from the realization that from all the German Federal States soon to be consolidated came a "mixed collection of rolling stock comprising about 210 types of locomotive." Such heterogeneity sparked an interest in standardizing both the design and production as early as 1917. Factories that produced locomotive set up ALNA (Allgemeine Locomotiven Normen-Ausscluss), a general research committed and ELNA (Engerer Locomotiven Normen Auschluss) formed from ALNA. "These two committees, " the report continued, "deal with the standardisation of locomotives and the interchangeability of parts." Beginning in 1919, ALNA and ELNA began developing a suite of designs.

Note that ELNA customers did not represent the soon-to-be organized Deutsches Reichbahn(DRB) of the Reich Ministry of Transport and later spun off as the Deutches Reichsbahn Gesellschaft in 1924, which developed its own range of einheitzlokomotiven in the 1920s. The ELNAs emphasized upgrading designs for so-called "kleinbahn" railways.and private industrial customers.

All six ELNA types featured high-pitched boilers that improved access for maintenance. A further aid to accessibility was the uniquely placed T-shaped water tank, which lay under the coal bunker behind the cab. Three wheel arrangements-- 0-6-0T, 2-6-0T, and 0-8-0T-, two axle loadings, and two available wheel diameters in some designs created a menu of sixteen options.

All could be produced with either saturated boilers (nassdampf) or superheated boilers (heizdampf). Regardless of wheel arrangement or boiler type, all ELNA cylinders used the same 550 mm (21.65") stroke. The Type 1s shown here used superheaters; the saturated-boiler Type 1s appear in Locobase 21142

Wikipedia explains that most of the target railways struggled economically, particularly before and during the Great Depression. Altogether, four companies (out of 10 originally envisioned) produced about 150 ELNAs between 1922-1946. Henschel und Sohn turned out the lion's share with Krauss, Hanomag, and Hohenzollern contributing as well.. Although this represented about 20% of total kleinbahn locmotives manufactured during that time, it was well short of original expectations. Of these, 80 went to Friedrich Lenz's AG fur Verkehrswesen (AGV) network of railways.

All but five ELNA's came equipped with superheaters.

See Locobases 21142-21153 for the other ELNA types.

Class Elna type 1 nassdampf (Locobase 21142)

Data from [], last accessed 20 September 2023. See Locobase 21141 for an essay on the ELNA program. Hohenzollern works numbers were 4536 in 1925, 4600 in 1927.

Caveat: The following advice recognizes that reputable sources disagree on many points. Locobase has tried to identify a representative type for each ELNA. To see all the variants of the design, Locobase recommends three websites still active as of September 2023:

1) Albert Gieseler's Lokomotiv-Baureihen page at [] beginning with BR 92 (look for build dates between 1924-1945)

2) The ELNA screens at dampflokomotivenarchive.de at [], whose subpages show all the locomotive identified as ELNAs.of a particular type.

3) Various Wikipedia sites using the term ELNA.

All ELNAs could be produced with either saturated boilers (nassdampf) or superheated boilers (heizdampf). Regardless of wheel arrangement or boiler type, all ELNA cylinders used the same 550 mm (21.65") stroke. The Type 1s shown here used superheaters; the saturated-boiler Type 1s appear in Locobase 21142

As noted in the main record, very few orders for saturated-boiler ELNAs came to the four German locomotive firms that supplied these standard kleinbahn designs.