Deutsche Reichsbahn / Deutsches ReichsBahn 2-10-0 Locomotives in Germany

Class BR 42 / KDL 3 (Locobase 1292)

Data from Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 18 December 2021. See also [] for a full account of this locomotive's origins;[] (link no longer active); A E Durrant, Locomotives of Eastern Europe (New York: Augustus M Kelley, Publishers, 1966); [] (June 2002; link later changed to [], last accessed 18 December 2021), Polish museum website [] . (Data for the 33 Class 16s.came from the Bulgarian website [] (viewed 18 July 2003--link no longer active.)

One of the wartime "Austerity" Kriegslokomotives. This variant had the lower axle-loading. Miska notes that the BR42 came about only after several false starts and that the design represented a stripped-down BR52 in many respects. The Ministry of Armaments and Munitions Request for Bids generated 20 responses. (Miska comments: "Keep in mind that there were dozens of locomotive builders in Germany.")

The final design owes much to the Polish Ty 37 decapod and the Ty 41/45 then being produced in Krenau, Poland. This was as a result of the intervention of the Gedob (General Directorate of Eastern Railroads), which needed something fast. Two principal designs emerged -- one based on a welded-plate frame with conventional firebox, the other a built-up bar frame with Brotan watertube firebox (Originally, the frame-firebox combination had been reversed.) Ultimately, all BR 42s had frames of 3.55" bar stock and conventional fireboxes.

The bulk of the 844 produced (760) came in 1943. After World War II, 213 more

emerged from Chrzanow (Poland) -- 126 engines -- Floridsdorf (Vienna) --72 locomotives for several Eastern European railroads -- and 15 for the Deutsche Bahn (14) and 1 for the SAAR.

(Like many European countries, German tube heating surfaces were calculated from the internal (fire side) diameter. For BR 86, that works out as 180.2 sq m (1,940 sq ft). Add the firebox heating surface area and total evaporative heating surface area equalled 199.6 sq m (2,148 sq m). To simplify comparison with Anglo-American locomotives, Locobase uses the external (water side) diameter in the specifications.)

Class BR 43.001 (Locobase 4317)

Data from US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book -- German Locomotives supplied from the extensive collection of Allen Stanley (March 2004). See also Albert Gieseler, "Baureihe 43" , Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven at [], last accessed 27 January 2019.

John Oxlade's [] summary tells us that these were an Einheitslok class. In fact, they were the two-cylinder version of the three-cylinder 44 (Locobase 20501), which would go on to be the preferred variant.

Notice in this class the "over-square" cylinder dimensions. According to the [] site (18 April 2004), these large pistons were too much for the frame and rods and any fuel savings in having one fewer piston were more than outweighed by the increases in other maintenance costs.

Class BR 44 001 - prototype (Locobase 20501)

Data from Albert Gieseler, "Baureihe 44 001-010", Lokomotiven, at Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven, [], last accessed 27 January 2019. See also Desider Ledacs Kiss, "Standard Freight Locomotive for German Railways", Railway Review, Volume 72, No 1 (6 January 1923) , pp. 34-38.

Einheitslok (standard) engine of the pre-Nazi era. Notice that they used the same boiler as the two-cylinder 43s (Locobase 4317) and achieved almost exactly the same tractive effort using three smaller cylinders and higher steam pressure. With the high superheat and higher ratio of heating surface to cylinder volume, this design had more endurance than the 43s. The square-shouldered Belapaire firebox was not especially visible and the three piston valves were smaller than comparable two-cylinder components.

A Knorr feed water heater offered 15.05 sq m (162 sq ft) to incoming water, which could be pumped at 556 US gallons (2,100 litres) per minute. In addition, a feed water purifier sprayed the water into the steam space, which added still more heat and caused both mud and scale to precipitate out.

44s had Krauss-Helmholz trucks, which combined the leading pony truck and the first driving axle. Tonnage ratings were more than 2,000 tons on level track, 1,225 tons up 1% at 15 kph (9..3 mph), and 550 tons up a 2 1/2% grade at slow speed.

Kiss's account of the 44's development included a long discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of three-cylinder design. A three-cylinder design developed a "greater and more even torque in starting." Obviously, three cylinders can develop more power and high-speed running was smoother. Disadvantages were weight and complexity, although using a crank axle for the inside cylinder was offset to a large extent in a three cylinder layout by the simplicity of manufacturing a crank set to a 120 degree angle as all three cylinders drove on the third axle..

Class BR 44 011 compound (Locobase 6033)

Data from US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book - German Locomotives, part of Allen Stanley's extensive Rail Data Exchange of locomotive diagram books (March 2004).

Although based on the 3-cylinder freight locomotive that was the Enheitslok of the DRG, these were two compounds with very high-pressure boilers. The boilers and fireboxes needed special steels, but they leaked and lost pressure readily after only a few thousand operating kilometers. Their pressure was soon reduced, first to 20 bar (285 psi), then 16 bar (227 psi).

Even so, the two locomotives remained in service for a long time, 011 being retired only in 1960 and 012 following in 1962.

Class BR 44 013 (Locobase 1293)

Data from [] (June 2002) and Albert Gieseler, "Baureihe 44 013-1858", Lokomotiven, at Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven, [], last accessed 27 January 2019.

Einheitslok (standard) engine of the pre-Nazi era first tested in the mid-1920s (see Locobase 20501). After ten entered service, another decade passed before the three-cylinder built in large numbers from 1936-1944. Notice that they used the same boiler as the two-cylinder 43s (Locobase 4317) and achieved almost exactly the same tractive effort using three smaller cylinders and higher steam pressure. With the high superheat and higher ratio of heating surface to cylinder volume, this design had more endurance than the 43s.

44s had Krauss-Helmholz trucks, which combined the leading pony truck and the first driving axle. Tonnage ratings were more than 2,000 tons on level track and 550 tons up a 2 1/2% grade at slow speed.

Class BR 50 (Locobase 1294)

Data from [] (June 2002), supplemented and amended through Albert Gieseler's [], last accessed 8 May 2011 and the US Military Railway Service diagram book of German Locomotives supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley..

According to []:

"The definitive German 2-10-0. Stripped down, this is essentially what became the class 52 Kriegslok." Even in its original state, this engine had a markedly lower axle loading than the Class 44. Even as production continued, the builders sought to reduce weight and complexity, coming up with a version known as the _bergangs Kriegslokomotive (interim war locomotive).

K H Miska, in his [], describes the BR 50 as "An almost universal freight locomotive ...At one point, they must have covered every kilometer of track from the English Channel deep into Russia and from northern Norway to the Mediterranean." Many major German locomotive builders -- Henschel (645), Borsig (179), Krauss-Maffei (317), Krupp (324), Orenstein & Koppel (170), Schwartzkopff (370)-- as well as Schichau (135), Arnold Jung (105), Esslingen (69), and builders in occupied countries such as Franco-Belge and Couillet (Belgium - 186), Floridsdorf (Austria - 368)) and Skoda (140), DWM Posen (72), CKD (35) (Czechoslovakia), and Ostrowiecer Lokfabrik Warsaw (Poland - 26) supplied engines.

Fufzigers proved competent and reliable in all kinds of service from freight on many lines that heavier engines couldn't tackle, freight main lines, even short-haul passenger service. "Why passenger service?", Miska asks on behalf of the reader. "On short lines with frequent stops," he explains,"the concern is not so much for high speeds. Good acceleration is more important."

Miska adds that another good feature of the BR 50 design was its ability to run at 80 km/h (50 mph) in either direction and its wheelbase with tender was short enough for most turntables to accept.

All in all, a very serviceable engine that persisted in service in the hundreds well into the 1970s.

Class BR 50.35-50.37 (Locobase 1704)

Data from [] (visited 8 June 2005). See also [] and Christian Lindecke's site ([] ) and "Lokomotiven der Baureihe 50.35" on Alfred Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven at [] , last accessed 1 November 2020.

The wartime boilers of the Class 50 kriegslok used a St47K steel alloy that was lighter than earlier steels. Unfortunately, it was also quite brittle and in the 1950s, the East German National Railroad decided to fit the class with a new, welded boiler with a combustion chamber. Piston valves measured 300 mm (11.81").

Karl Marx Works delivered 23, Magdeburg 152, and Stendal 33, the first arriving on 12 November 1957, the last on 18 September 1962.

[] (a German steam locomotive parts supplier) gives the normal steaming capacity as 11,000 kg/hr. The same site says these were rated as capable of hauling a 1210-short ton passenger train up a 2% grade at 50 kph.

In 1966, 72 were converted to oil firing, followed by 41 in 66-67, and 30 in 1970-71. Seventy-five of the locomotives were fitted with the Giesl exhaust-ejection system. Although the DR planned to retire the class in the late 1970s, the second oil shock of 1979 prolonged its service in some cases into the late 1980s.

NB: Calculated from the tubes' internal (fire side) diameter, the evaporative heating surface area amounted to 172.3 sq m (1,854 sq ft).

Class BR 50.40 (Locobase 1705)

Data from [] and Chrisian Lindecke ([], visited 17 Oct 2004) supplemented by Wikipedia, [], last accessed 8 May 2011.

New-construction engines based on the prewar Class 50 (Locobase 1294) and produced by East Germany (DDR). Because of materials constraints, the Karl Marx Works had to forego the bar frame used in the pre-war engines and adopt a plate frame instead. The boiler, on the other hand, included a combustion chamber and feedwater heater.

Used on the northern plains of East Germany, this class remained in service as long as the frames remained intact. But the frame proved a weak point and the locomotives were scrapped as they came due for heavy repairs. The last was retired in 1980.

Class BR 52 (Locobase 1295)

Data from [] (June 2002) and from the US Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 24, May 6, 1943 found at [] (last accessed October 2008); and "Baureihe 52" on Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [] . See also the Polish museum website [] and A E Durrant, Locomotives of Eastern Europe (New York: Augustus M Kelley, Publishers, 1966) .

(Tube diameters from the water side (fire side are 49 and 125 mm, respectively.) See also "Big Green Machine" on "Physiocrat's" blog Ferrosaur: The Strange Persistence of Steam Locomotives", entry posted 22 March 2017 at [], last accessed 14 September 2019.

[] comments that the number built is not certain. The figure given is credited to Albert B. Gottwaldt; Tufnell (1986) puts the number at 10,650.

This austerity design clipped a total of 26 metric tons off the already lean Class 50. It was built in huge numbers in Germany and Austria and heavier engines with welded frames rolled out of East German locomotive factories after World War II. Many engines were retrofitted with the Giesl Ejector stack, an inversely tapered flower-box of a funnel that was more efficient than traditional designs.

Additional data from Polish museum website [] and AE A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc. Tube diameters are from the water side (fire side are 49 and 125 mm, respectively.)

Within the Polish museum site is the actual list for the Ty42, which lists the locomotive's builders in descending order (but cuts off Grafentstaden's total):

Floridsdorf, Wien: 1,053

Henschel, Kassel: 1,050

Schwartzkopff, Berlin: 647

(Oberschlesische Lokfabrik) 613

Jung, Jungental: 542

Schichau, Elbing: 505

MBA, Babelsberg: 400

DWM/Posen: 314

Krenau (Oberschlesische Lokfabrik) 264

Krauss-Maffei, Munchen: 250

Esslingen: 231

Borsig, Berlin: 153

Skoda, Pilsen: 139

Grafenstaden, Strasburg:

The wonderfully named Ferrosaur blog (which contains entries only into early 2018) described a 2007 scene on a Swiss railway that required a work train. Instead of using a djesel, the SBB instead put a BR 52 on the train, a move that reduced diesel fuel oil consumption and created virtually no noise at all while standing idle. The engine involved, he noted, "was rebuilt from a German Kriegslok constructed in 1944 and intended for no more than a few months' service. The work was carried out by the Swiss engineering company Dampflokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik DLM AG of Winterthnr."

Goteberg, Sweden-base Physiocrat said that "Improvements were incorporated to provide for quick startup and efficiencies around 50% higher than the best that was being achieved when steam locomotives were last used regularly in the 1950s." (See DLM AG's pdf description of the 2009 retrofit at [], last accessed 14 September 2019.)

(His account offers several interesting observations about steam locomotives in general.)

Class BR 52.80 (Locobase 1706)

Data from [] . See also A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam loc

Rebuilds of the Austerity Class 52s with the same boiler as the Class 58 rebuilds. These engines receiving a larger firebox, tapered boiler, Heinl feedwater heater, welded cylinders,, a new cab with oval weatherboard windows. The new tender was fitted with a Krauss-Helmholz bogie. The fireside diameter for the small tubes was 51 mm, for the larger flues it was 133 mm.

According to the site, the retention of the original Winterthur (SLM) pressure-compensating piston valve interfered with smooth operation when the engine was drifting. Only in the 1980s did the DDR install the Trofimoff/Meiningen valve, which greatly improved drifting operations.

[] (a German steam locomotive parts supplier) gives the normal steaming capacity as 11,000 kg/hr. The same site says these were rated as capable of hauling a 1320-short ton passenger train up a 2% grade at 50 kph.

Class BR 58.30 (Locobase 1707)

Data from "Baureihe 58.30" in Albert Gieseler's Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 29 October 2017. See also [] . (Thanks to Alexander Blessing for pointing out duplicate entries for these engines.)

Out of necessity, the Communist East German government sustained an interest in developing steam locomotive designs, mostly by fitting new components to its share of the postwar distribution of Third Reich locomotives. The Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (Raw) Zwickau retained the three-cylinder layout with new welded cylinders., but eliminateD the conjugate valve gear for the inside cylinder by fitting a third set of Walschaerts gear inside.

A new boiler now included a combustion chamber welded driver's cabs, newly designed boilers (the Rekokessel) with combustion chambers, mixer-preheater systems, new welded cylinders, Trofimoff valves and Witte smoke deflectors. External tube and flue diameters were 51 and 133 mm, respectively.

[] (a German steam locomotive parts supplier) gives the normal steaming capacity as 10,000 kg/hr. The same site says these were rated as capable of hauling a 1,320-short ton passenger train up a 2% grade at 50 km/h (31 mph).

Class BR 58.30 Reko (Locobase 20320)

Data from "Baureihe 58.30" in Albert Gieseler's Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 29 October 2017.

Out of necessity, the Communist East German government sustained an interest in developing steam locomotive designs, mostly by fitting new components to its share of the postwar distribution of Third Reich locomotives. The Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (Raw) Zwickau retained the three-cylinder layout with new welded cylinders, but produced a new boiler with combustion chamber welded driver's cabs, newly designed boilers (the Rekokessel) with combustion chambers, mixer-preheater systems, new welded cylinders, Trofimoff valves and Witte smoke deflectors.