Deutsche Reichsbahn 2-10-2 Locomotives in Germany

Class BR 45 001 (Locobase 4318)

Data from "Baureihe 45 001-002", Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 7 August 2019. Works numbers were 22805-22806 in 1936.

John Oxlade's [] summary shows us that these were powerful Santa Fes that may have been too much engine for the requirements. Indeed, other than the two BR 06 4-8-4s (Locobase 4324), these were the only German engines to have had a combined heating surface of more than 350 sq m (3,767 sq ft).

The Marklin site [] (June 2002) reports that these behemoths were manually fired, the intent being to assign two firemen to each engine.Their data refers to that prototype configuration and shows a larger firebox and more boiler heating surface. Two-firemen manning quickly proved impractical. Moreover, the 7.5 metre (24 ft 7 1/2") long boiler tubes and flues presented maintenance headaches.

Class BR 45 003 (Locobase 20620)

Data from "Baureihe 45 003-028", Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 7 August 2019. Works numbers were 24796-24821 in 1940-1941.

Notice the great size of the firetubes and flues. By a slim margin over the prototype BR 45s (Locobase 4318), these Santa Fes offered the most combined heating surface area of any German locomotive.

Other than the two BR 06 4-8-4s (Locobase 4324), they were the only German design to top 4,000 sq ft in total heating surface. Their original specification required 80 kph (50 mph) on the level while hauling 1,200 tons of trailing load and 1,000 tons up a 0.5% grade at 60 kph (37 mph).

Although capable of great pulling power, wartime exigencies dictated that the 45s were not adopted as a Kriegslok design. Their boilers used St 47 K steel to reduce weight, but the vessel proved prone to fatigue cracks. By the early 1950s, ten of the class were rebuilt; see Locobase 20621.

Class BR 84 - 2 cyl, 20 bar (Locobase 4319)

Data from Albert Gieseler, "Baureihe 84 001-002" at [], last accessed 27 January 2019. See also "Einheitslok Baureihe 84" at [], last accessed 27 January 2019. Orenstein & Koppel works numbers were 12660-12661 in 1934.

John Oxlade's [] says this was an Einheitslok from the Third Reich era. Four tank locomotives were produced in 1934-1935 in pairs that differed primarily in the number of cylinders. These BMAG-Schwartzkopff engines were the two-cylinder variant with large cylinders and very high pressure. All of the 84s used the Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt II bogie; see Locobase 20502 for details.

According to the Mueglitztalbahn website, the O&K locomotives proved decidedly less satisfactory despite the better heating surface to cylinder volume ratio. They rode less steadily, swaying twice as far side-to-side on straight track as the Schwartzkopff engines and the latter negotiated much tighter curves.

The post-war Class 84 described elsewhere in Locobase is smaller and had two cylinders.

Class BR 84 - 3 cyl, 16 bar (Locobase 20503)

Data from Albert Gieseler, "Baureihe 84 005-012" at[], last accessed 27 January 2019. BMAG-Schwartzkopfforks numbers were 10656-10663 in 1935.

Locobase 4319 shows the pair of engines produced by Orenstein & Koppel with two large cylinders. Locobase 20502 shows the BMAGs delivered a year later with three smaller cylinders and a shorter wheelbase. The boilers were identical high-pressure vessels.

This entry shows the limited production variant, which adopted the three-cylinder layout but dropped the boiler pressure setting while increasing each cylinder's diameter by 20 mm. All of the 84s used the Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt II bogie on both ends; see Locobase 20502 for details. These engines had only the third axle fixed in the frame.

The post-war Class 84 described elsewhere in Locobase is smaller and had two cylinders.

Class BR 84 - 3 cyl, 20 bar (Locobase 20502)

Data from Albert Gieseler, "Baureihe 84 001-002" at [], last accessed 27 January 2019. See also "Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt II bogie" and Beugniot lever in Wikipedia at [] and [], both last accessed 27 January 2019. BMAG-Schwartzkopfforks numbers were 10452-10453 in 1934.

The DRG investigated several different Einheitslok (standard) designs of a heavy tank engine to handle traffic on the Mnglitztalbahn) between Heidenau and Altenberg in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge). The railway featured many tight curves that inspired Schwartzkopff's chief engineer to improve on the widely used Krauss-Helmholz bogie that combined the lead truck and the lead driving axle in a single traversable unit.

Friedrich Wilhelm Eckhardt's Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt II bogie linked the bogie with the second driven axle through a long rod, whose motion traversed the lead driven axle through a Beugniot lever that joined the centers of the two driven axles such that when the second axle swung one way, the first axle pivoted in the opposite direction. A similar installation controlled the rear two axles and the trailing truck. Thus, only the third axle was fixed to the frame.

Locobase 4319 shows the pair of engines produced by Orenstein & Koppel with two large cylinders.This entry shows the BMAGs delivered a year later with three smaller cylinders and a shorter wheelbase. The boilers were identical high-pressure vessels.

The three-cylinder layout went into production, but with a significant drop in the boiler pressure setting; see Locobase 20503.

The post-war Class 84 described elsewhere in Locobase is smaller and had two cylinders.

Class BR 85 (Locobase 4320)

Data from [] (June 2002). [] locomotive database (visited 2 June 2005) says Henschel works numbers were 22110-22116, 22142-22144.

See also 170.56.59.11/juergen/bahn/Daten/Denkmal/85_007.htm.

John Oxlade's [] says this was an Einheitslok design from the Third Reich era. A thread on tank locomotives on [] notes that the frame and running gear came from the BR 44 class 2-10-0s, while the the boiler and grate are derived from the Class 62 4-6-4T, a 1928 2-cylinder Einheitslok. It was originally developed for the Hollental rack line.

The last one of these to retire was withdrawn in 1961.

Class BR 99.77 (Locobase 1711)

Data from [], accessed 25 February 2006. See also A[nthony] E[dward] Durrant, The steam locomotives of Eastern Europe (Abbot Newton: David & Charles, 1966)

Based on the 99.731-762 narrow-gauge engines but had plate instead of bar frames and larger grates and consequently a larger firebox. The Sachsendampf web page explains that the GDR did not at the time have a forge capable of manufacturing the bars needed for a bar frame, hence the reversion to an older frame design.

Once the engines started serving the 750-mm network, the boiler earned praise for its easy steaming, the large grate overcoming the limitations of low-calorie "brown coal" and leaks in the boiler. Alas, the build quality of the class fell short and boilers began wearing out within a few years. Replacement with thicker boiler plate and staybolts and local reinforcement of the frame at the third and fourth driven axles proved the answer.

[] (a German steam locomotive parts supplier) gives the normal steaming capacity as 5,000 kg/hr. The same site says these were rated as capable of hauling a 150-short ton passenger train up a 2% grade at 30 kph.

According to Ziel & Eagleson (1973), the Karl Marx Works were the former Orenstein & Koppel facilities.

Class K57.10 - neubaulok (Locobase 3787)

Data from [] and 1964 data sheet from the Deutsche Reichsbahn. See also "Brockenlokomotiven 99 7231 - 99 7247" on the HSB website at [], last accessed 8 November 2020.

Obviously, when East German operators ordered more of these Santa Fe tanks after World War II, circumstances had changed. Thus, while the boiler in these Neubauloks remained the same size, the grate area expanded significantly. This probably reflects lower-calorie coal supplies that would need more firebox heating surface to generate enough steam.

[], the HSB site, comments "However, the new locomotives differ from the previous types in terms of many of their design features. The frame, for example, was built from sheet metal. The technological capability which existed in the post-war era could not facilitate a sectional frame-type design. The boiler is completely welded, with the long boiler comprising a single boiler barrel."

In the late 1970s the class was converted to oil-burning, but this was an unsuccessful move, says the HSB historian, because "...they paid the price of cutting corners on the second burner by sustaining boiler damage."

Works numbers are given by [] (last accessed 28 December 2006)

as 134008 - 134022, 134027 (99 246), and 134028 (99 247).

This site also gives details on the running gear. In the first series, the lead truck and first driven axle as well as the trailing truck and last driven axle were combined in a Krauss-Helmholz trucks with considerable (150 mm) play given to the auxiliary trucks. The driver's flange depth was cut to 1/2" (13 mm). Problems with this layout led to the adoption of a new arrangement that retained the K-H truck in the rear but resorted to an Eckhardt rack that linked the first two axles to the second driving axle with Beugniot levers. So configured, the leading truck had 157 mm of lateral play and the first two driven axles 23 mm each. Combined with lateral plays of 171 mm on the trailing truck and 26 mm on the rear driving axle, the running gear conferred a very tight curve radius on a wheel arrangement not known for its flexibility.

Trofimoff piston valves, two sand domes

[] (a German steam locomotive parts supplier) gives the normal steaming capacity as 6,000 kg/hr. The same site says these were rated as capable of hauling a 220-short ton passenger train up a 2% grade at 25 kph. Speed rating was 40 km/h (25 mph) in both directions.

Between 2004 and 2012, the HSB rebuilt at least 10 of the locomotive that included the replacement of cylinders and frames.