Deutsche Reichsbahn 4-6-6 Locomotives in Germany

Class BR 61.002 (Locobase 4322)

Christian Lindecke ([] and the US Military Railway Service Equipment Data Book for German Locomotives supplied by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange in March 2004. (The MRS guide has the two designations reversed, but the information appears quite consistent with the other sources.)

John Oxlade's [] says this design was developed as a streamliner to pull the Henschel-Wegmann train set between Berlin and Dresden. Note that it had a three-axle trailing truck under the same-size grate. It was evaluated with the 4-6-4T 61.001, but both seem to have been much heavier than needed for such service.

It's likely that the 001's "jerky" ride (as described by [] Christian Lindecke) came not just from the wheel arrangement, but also from the high piston forces of two relatively large cylinders under high pressure. In any case, the 002 had three smaller pistons as well as an additional axle under the tank. The inside cylinder drove the first axle and the outside cylinders powered the middle driving axle.

This variant stayed in East Germany after World War II. Like the DB's 001 it was stripped of its streamline casing. In 1961, the locomotive was "rebuilt" , although the description of what was changed leads Locobase to wonder what was left of the original 002. The rebuilt engine, now a 4-6-2 (2' C 1') pulling a separate tender, was designated BR 18 201.

Class BR 61.002 (Locobase 20204)

Data from "Dampflokomotive 61 002" on Alfred Gieseler's website at [], last accessed 8 June 2017. See also [] (June 2002). (Thanks to Claus Gaertner for his 17 March 2021 email providing the proper transliteration of the builder's name.)Works number was 23515 in 1939.

Locobase 4321 describes the first of these two high-speed, streamlined tanks. Complaints about the locomotive's ride ("jerky") and its underwhelming water capacity led to a redesign. Areas of the superheater and feed water heater remained the same, and the boilers nearly so, but the tubes and flues were fewer in number and of larger diameter.

The two large cylinders were replaced by three smaller ones with shorter strokes to modify the torque curve, lending a smoother motion to the incredibly hard-working power system. Steaming demand remained about the same, but piston speed at express speeds dropped about 14%.

To limit the locomotive's axle loading to 18,200 kg, a three-axle trailing bogie replaced the two-axle truck used in the 61 001. This change may also have contributed to better riding qualities.

The makeover was a success, but the 002 had very little opportunity to demonstrate its potential because the Third Reich invaded Poland on 1 September 1939.

Like the 61 001, the 002 survived World War Two. Its lonely status as a single prototype complicated repairs, however, and it was eventually reworked by Max Baumberg at the Versuchs- und Entwicklungsstelle fnr Maschinenwirtschaft (VES-M) in Halle as the 4-6-2 18 201; see Locobase 6041.