Halberstadt Blankenburger Eisenbahn 2-10-2 Locomotives in Germany

Class Mammut (Giant) / DR 95.66 (Locobase 5764)

Data from Christian Lindecke [] (visited 21 December 2003) -- translated by Google, supplemented by Albert Gieseler, [], last accessed 8 May 2011. See also "A Heavy German Tank Locomotive", Railway Engineer, Volume 44, No 2 (February 1923), p. 52. Works numbers were 10353 in ebruary 1920, 10354 in April, and 10909-10910 in March 1921.

Lindecke wrote that this quartet of locomotives -- Giant, Wisent, Moose, and Buffel -- entered service to provide muscle without having to resort to rack drive. Early experience showed that the engine could haul three times as heavy loads than earlier rack engines up grades of 2.5% and more. The HBE was pleased with the Giant's power and ordered the other three for 1921 delivery. They certainly fit the bill as far as negotiating curves was concerned. The leading and trailing truck were of radial design. The second and last driven axles enjoyed "liberal side play" and the middle axle had no flanges.

The design was the basis for the KPEV's T20 class of tanks (Locobase 4207), but that class had taller drivers. The Giants survived World War II and were incorporated in the East German system in 1949 as class 95.66. Twenty years later, wrote Lindecke, the four were still in service.

Locobase at first disbelieved Lindecke's figure for piston stroke. 550 mm converts to 21.65", making this engine the most "over-square" Locobase has seen. 650 mm seemed more likely, but Giesler's presentation of the same cylinder dimensions was convincing. The engine's origin as a replacement for rack loks on very steep inclines could have led to such a layout.