Prussian State 2-8-0 Locomotives in Germany

Class BR 56 2- 56 8 (Locobase 9686)

Data from Polish website featuring of these rebuilts -- [], last accessed 26 November 2008, supplemented by [], last accessed 14 may 2011. See also Dyspozytor, "The fire goes out in the last Tr5 in the World", Behind the Water Town: The Two Faces of Polish Railways, last accessed 17 September 2015.

As originally delivered, the thousands of G8.1s (see Locobase 1279) proved to have just the right size and power to handle the job. But in certain circumstances, the DRG needed to reduce the locomotive's axle loading while also raising the maximum speed limit. Fitting a fifth axle in the form of a leading truck took care of both problems.

"Dyspozytor" reports that the redesign made some significant changes to the locomotive's profile. "The boiler was raised and extended forwards, the front of the frames was extended and fitted with a Bissel pony truck." Dyspozytor comments that the addition of the truck and the repositioned "chimney "gave "the locomotives a somewhat ungainly appearance when viewed from the side." (Locobase doesn't agree that these looked particularly gawky.)

Adding the pony truck allowed the engine to travel smoothly at 70 km/h (43.5 mph), which led to its use on passenger trains. Widely distributed across the Third Reich's military railways, the survivors soon were retired in favor of the 2-10-0 Kriegsloks. Still, the Bundesbahn operated 368 locomotives and operated them until the last was retired in 1968.

Poland acquired 66 Tr5s after World War II and retired the last one in 1972.

---

Class G 7.3/BR 56.0 (Locobase 6357)

Data from Christian Lindecke data from [] (20 Nov 2004); Reder (1974, p 184); and [] . Reder comments that the G3 was "no more powerful" than the G2 it was derived from, nor "despite the added Adams radial axle, did they run any more smoothly."

Lindecke notes that although the G3 was powerful, its leading truck actually increased the likelihood of derailing. Only much later in World War I did the demand for locomotives lead to a new, more powerful batch; see Locobase 6358.

---

Class G 7.3/BR 56.0 (Locobase 6358)

Data from Christian Lindecke data from [] (20 Nov 2004).

As noted in Locobase 6357, this compound Consolidation was not particularly successful when it was first introduced in 1893.

For some reason, however, the very elements that led to dissatisfaction before apparently prompted production of a new batch by several companies including Esslingen, Krauss of Munich, and Maffei of Munich. (5 more went to Mecklenberg.)

Boiler pressure went up by 25 psi, the heating surface increased slightly. In addition, the design received a Knorr feedwater heater, Dultz shuttle valve, and compressed-air brakes.

Clearly this was a temporary solution as only three of the seventy were taken into the DRG in 1925 as 56 003-005; the MFFE G7.3 were numbered 56 201-205.

---

Class G 8.2/BR 56.20-56.29 (Locobase 1280)

Data from the US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book for German Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange in March 2004; and "Baureihe 56.20" on Albert Gieseler's Dampfmachinen und Lokomotiven website at [], last accessed 12 March 2023. See also "Prussian G 8.2" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 12 March 2023. Wikipedia listed the builders' shares as Henschel & Sohn (319), Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik (119), Krupp (188), Linke-Hofmann (88), Hanomag (61), AEG (71).

High-powered Consolidations that began construction for the KPEV. This design was based on the earlier three-cylinder G12. 2-10-0s of 1915 and 1917 (Locobase 6361 and Locobase 2515).

In addition to eliminating the central cylinder, the 2-8-0 layout reduced tube lengths by 700 mm (27.56 in) and its adhesion wheelbase by 1.5 metres (59.1"). Its cylinder volume and boiler pressure generated one of the highest startting tractive effort values of any 2-8-0. The resulting low factor of adhesion suggests the need for careful steam management to avoid slipping the drivers.

(NB: German heating surface areas often were calculated using the inside diameters of tubes and flues. (In this case, the tube heating surface area worked out 150.87 sq m/ 1,624 sq ft and total evaporative heating surface area equaled 163.50 sq m/1,760 sq ft. Locobase uses the outside diameters to allow a more direct comparison of superheater ratios.)

At amalgamation into the DRG, 846 had been completed. Another 70 were delivered through 1928

The design displayed a certain amount of flexibility. It began its service by hauling heavy goods trains on sevreal main lines, but the KPEV soon raised its maximum speed to 75 kph (46.5 mph) on some of the engines to allow its use as a passenger hauler.

---

Class G 8.3/BR 56.1 (Locobase 1281)

Data from "Baureihe 56.1" entry in Albert Gieseler's Dampflokomotiven website at [], last accessed 29 October 2017. See also the US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book for German Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange in March 2004; Christian Lindecke ([], 15 May 2004); and "Prussian G 8.3" entry in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 29 October 2017.

These were repeats of the G8.2s (Locobase 1280), but with three somewhat smaller cylinders instead of G8.2's two. Wikipedia's entry says that the design was inspired by Wurttemburg Railway's G12 2-10-0 three-cylinder Decapod (see Locobases 6361 and 2515). The boilers had the same count of tubes (189) and flues (34). But all of them were 700 mm (27.6 in) shorter in the G8.3.

Obviously the complexity outweighed the additional power, especially when that meant shorter legs because the already modest-sized border was now to fill even more cylinder volume. The complexities of caring for the third cylinder between the frames meant that later Consolidations would be G8.2s.

The 85 that were delivered, however, wound up giving decades of service with 68 surviving World War Two.

West Germany only took six into the Deutsche Bundesbahn; East Germany DRB operated the other 62.