2-8-2 Steam Locomotives in Germany

Class 41 - Reko (Locobase 5798)

Data from [] (29 Dec 2003) and [] (10 June 2005).

Locobase 4316 describes the original BR 41 Oxen. Like the West German survivors of World War II, the collection of BR 41 Mikados that went East were considerably made over to retain the balance of power and speed while eliminating the deteriorating boiler. Wartime exigencies had dictated use of St 47 K alloy, which aged prematurely to the point that the boilers were worn out by the mid-1950s. At that time, spare boilers from the BR 03 Reko program were fitted to 80 BR 41s. (21 more received boilers of the same capacity as the original BR 41 while a further 5 were simply repaired.)

The East German program was less ambitious than that of the Bundesbahn (see Locobase 3856) and amounted to dropping a new boiler on the frame ahead of the existing firebox. Even so, superheat area increased by 16% and the distribution of tubes and flues considerably different. Frosch acknowledges the Bundesbahn's locomotive may have had a more efficient boiler, but argues that overall power remained about equal because the DR Rekolok was larger. (He does not consider the impact of a combustion chamber on the West German locomotive's performance.) In any case, both Rekoloks' power at the drawbar was substantially greater than the original BR 41.

From the time the 80 were delivered to the last run in 1984 (25 years later), the 41-ers could be seen all over the DR network on freight and passenger service.

Tonnage ratings for the rekokessel were as follows:

750 trailing tons in passenger service at 90 km/h (56 mph) on level track; 575 (?) tons in freight service.

On a 1/2 % grade, the 41-er would pull 765 freight tons at 55 km/h (34 mph) and 500 tons at 50 km/h (31 mph) up a 1 % grade.

Class BR 19.1001 (Locobase 20624)

Data from [], and "BR 19.1001" on Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotiven website at [], both last accessed 10 August 2019. Henschel's works number signified a milestone: it was 25,000. (Thanks to Robert Wagner for his 27 October 2024 email relating his father's experience in repairing the 19.001 for testing in the United States. His comments appear below. Thanks to steamlocomotive.com's Wes Barris as well for finding the video Wagner mentioned at [], last accessed

This locomotive's nominal wheel arrangement ID-- 1'Do1' h8--should hint at the novelty of this design. Another data bit to notice are the wheel diameters. 1250 mm is pretty small for a mainline 2-8-2, but its two auxiliary axles turned 1250 mm diameter wheels as well. Photographs show a quite different layout for the drivers. If seen from the left side, the first and third drivers have a V-2 cyinder block mounted over them; if seen from right, the V-2s are placed on the second and fourth drivers. Their difference from conventional valve gear is obvious in photographs, which also show the bulbous streamline casing used in several DRG express locomotives in the 1930s.

This power system is perhaps unique in the steam locomotive world. The engine, which used a BR 44 boiler, conveyed the steam to the four motors mounted on the axles. These drove the axles through articulated couplings. So, although the German accounts note the derivation of the idea as from the electric locomotives, diesel-electric drive seems a closer analogy. And it had the same goal: convey steam to each motor at its dedicated drive.

Its maximum speed was planned to be 175 kph (109 mph) and a trial run reached 186 kph (116 mph). Its one shortcoming was a tendency to spin one or more of the uncoupled axles.

Given the unusual drivetrain, the locomotive performed remarkably well on the Hamburg-Berlin, Hamburg-Hanover, and Hamburg-Osnabrnck beginning in 1943. But it was wartime and the 19.1001 was heavily damaged during a bombing raid.

There's a postcript to this account and Robert Wagner wrote Locobase and steamlocomotive.com about it. Here it is, lightly edited:

"My dad was involved in the project to get the locomotive repaired while in

Germany and also involved with the loco when it was brought back to the US. The technology was advanced for the time, and was to be studied here in the US.

"The engine and tender were repainted in Transportation Corp colors and Insignia, but still retained the 19.1001 on the engine (visible in the photos I have included) . I believe what was most interesting about the locomotive was the "V" engine configuration. The photos were taken while the engine was in the US (not sure in Ft. Monroe or Ft. Eustis). ..

"Taken into US custody in October 1945, the 19.1001 was delivered to Fort Monroe in Virginia for further testing before being broken up in 1952."

In the text accompanying the Youtube video referred to above, Wagner described the 19.001's performance in the US:

"..[A]t the end of the war she was then taken by the Americans and tested on American tracks where she reached just over 117 mph and again this was achieved on a flat level section of track, no add from a downhill run, downhill runs will significantly increase any engines top speed, so running this engine beyond 120mph was highly probable."

Class BR 22 (Locobase 1700)

Data from [] . The origina Prussian P10s described in Locobase 1126 proved quite unsatisfactory when they were introduced in the 1920s. Many stood idle for years as engineers chased the reasons for the class's lackluster performance. The answer is discussed in the original entry as well as the reasons for the West German Bundesbahn choosing not to rebuild any of the many remaining engines.

As was often the case in postwar Germany, the Deutches Reichsbahn,, the Communist East Germana successor, could ill-afford simply to scrap steam locomotives of such potential. So the railway rebuilt 85 of the class between 1958 and 1962.

The shops replaced the original Belpaire firebox and trapezoidal grate with a round-top version fitted with a combustion chamber. Because the boiler was longer, reconstructors increased the distance between the last coupled axle and the trailing carrying axle by 550 mm (21.65").

The rebuild was a success and the class continued to pull heavy expresses until 1968, when they were replaced by diesels and simpler two-cylinder steam engines. In 1970, those remaining in service were renumbered in the BR 39 series originally assigned to the P10 at nationalization.

Class BR 41 (Locobase 4316)

Data from [] (June 2002) and "Baureihe 41" at [], last accessed 10 August 2019.

An Einheitslok of the Third Reich originally supplied by Schwarzkopff. In their original configuration, their boilers were pressed to 20 bar (284 psi). They were nicknamed the Oxen for their pulling power, which was measured at 1,900 HP. Flexible staybolts and an adjustable axle loading (from 17.5 MT/38,581 lb to 19.5 MT/42,990 lb) were other features.

Production was spread out over several builders: BMAG (25), Borsig (73), Esslingen (37), Henschel (86), Jung (40), Krauss Maffei (18), Krupp (31), 21 MBA (21) , and Schichau (37). Another 70 locomotives ordered in 1941 were cancelled.

One big miscalculation in the design was the use of St 47 K steel, which didn't age well. Even by 1941, boiler pressure was reduced to 16 bar (232 psi) to relieve stress on the vessel. Many of the class were later rebuilt by both successor German railway systems. some getting new boilers and most converted to burning oil. The BR 41 Reko of the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn appears in Locobase 5798, the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn variant in Locobase 3856.

The Japanese website [] says this was originally to be a 2-8-0, but was built in this arrangement.

Class BR 86 (Locobase 1296)

Data from [] (June 2002); and Albert Gieseler's Dampfmaschinen und Lokomotive website at [], last accessed 18 December 2021. See also Christian Lindecke ([] -- viewed 11 April 2004, link failed later) and Kurt Miska's [] (viewed 11 April 2004); A E Durrant, Locomotives of Eastern Europe (New York: Augustus M Kelley, Publishers, 1966) showed 2.34 sq m (25.18 sq ft), which applied to the first 229.

Designed as an einheitslokomotiv (standard design), this class was built over the next 15 years. Miska presents a table of number built by manufacturer. Resorted to put the most prolific first, the results are:

Wiener Lokomotivenfabrik 191

Friedrich Schichau 118

Henschel & Sohn 93

BMAG 75

DWM Posen 73

Orenstein & Koppel 64

Friedrich Krupp AG 62

August Borsig 60

Esslingen 23

MGB Karlsruhe 11

Linke-Hofmann 5

Note that an Austrian builder led the way. Gieseler's deeply detailed listings include six variants, four of which appeared in significant number. (86 001-229, 234-292, 297-335, and 336-1000. Data for the last and largest batch appear in Locobase's specs.

Lindecke summarized some variations: the first 16 were delivered with the Riggenbach rack system; 44 used the Krauss-Helmholtz truck rather than the simpler Bissel radial truck, some had brakes on the trailing rucks, some didn't. When the Third Reich went to war, the design was simplified with disk drivers, welded water tanks, and "krempenschornstein" (Google couldn't come up with the equivalent.)

Miska added a comment from Berndt v. Mitzlaff;'s July 1986 article in Eisenbahn Magazin that the suspension of the BR 86 was exceptionally well suited to uneven trackwork as might be found on branch lines. "He [Mitzlaff] gave the BR 86 very high marks in that respect." Miska observed that the small drivers meant good acceleration in hilly regions and getting heavily loaded trains into motion.

When the two Germanies established their railroads after 1945, the Bundesbahn could count 385 BR 86s and the DDR's Deutsche Reichsbahn marshalled 175. The last of this numerous class went out of service in East Germany in 1976. Forty-four Polish BR 86 (Tkt 3) operated into the 70s on the main lines and on industrial sites until the 1980s; the Soviet Union got good service out of its 90 war prizes. Czech railways

(Like many European countries, German tube heating surfaces were calculated from the internal (fire side) diameter. For BR 86, that works out as 107.3 sq m (1,155 sq ft). Add the firebox heating surface area and total evaporative heating surface area equalled 117.3 sq m (1,263 sq m). To simplify comparison with Anglo-American locomotives, Locobase uses the external (water side) diameter in the specifications.)

Class K46.8 / BR 99.32 (Locobase 5071)

Data from Kurt Miska's home.t-online.de/home/kopka.manfred/stamp.htm for these pocket Mikes, supplemented by [], last accessed 14 May 2011. See also Jim Wrinn, "Steam, Street Running and the Baltic," Trains, December 2016, pp. 48-51.Works numbers were 12400-12402 in 1932.

So tight was the loading gauge that the cab roofs had to be sharply angled. Relatively fast running (50 km/h or 31 mph) was made possible through relatively large drivers and good guidance through the curves. Wrinn's story highlights the class's wiriness through Bad Doberan's winding streetscape and a bike path that parallel's the heritage train's entire 9.5 mile (15.3 km) run carrying tourists and local passengers.

Mecklenburgische Baderbahn Molli took them into service in 1995. All three were refurbished by the Dampflokwerk Meiningen, receiving welded boilers, new water tanks, and new tires.

In 2008, the DLW Meiningen built a new locomotive based on the 99 321, which was put into service as the 99 2324-4 in 2009.