The Class 44 (German: Baureihe 44 or BR 44) was a ten-coupled, heavy goods trainsteam locomotive built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a standard steam engine class (Einheitsdampflokomotive). Its sub-class was G 56.20 and it had triple cylinders. It was intended for hauling goods trains of up to 1,200 tonnes (1,200 long tons; 1,300 short tons) on the routes through Germany's hilly regions (Mittelgebirge) and up to 600 tonnes (590 long tons; 660 short tons) on steep inclines. They were numbered 44 001-44 1989.
The first 10 examples were built in 1926. These engines had a somewhat higher steam consumption than the first ten units of the DRG Class 43 procured in parallel for comparison purposes, and which were equipped with two cylinders. Not until 1937 were further 44s procured, because by then the rising demands of rail transportation could be better met with a triple-cylinder configuration.
From 1926 to 1949, a total of 1,989 locomotives were manufactured. During the Second World War an austerity variant was built with simplified construction and delivery, known as the Class 44ÜK (one of the so-called Übergangskriegslokomotive). This primarily used home-produced materials; components were simplified, both in manufacturing methods and design, or left out completely. The most striking features of the ÜK locomotives were the omission of the smoke deflectors (that from 44 013 was standard) and also the forward side windows of the driver's cab.
After the war, Class 44 locomotives remained with the following railway administrations:[1]
The DB transferred at least 291 engines to the French railways SNCF as reparations. These were predominantly locomotives that had been built in France, most of them never ran and were sold for scrap.[1][2] The SNCF sold on 48 engines in 1955 to the Turkish State Railways (TCDD).[3]
DB 044 014-9 on the turntable at Trier, Easter 1972
Until their replacement by modern diesel and electric locomotives, the Class 44 engines were the backbone of heavy goods train duties in Germany.
German railwaymen nicknamed the Class 44 locomotive the "Jumbo" because of its power. Only the rebuilt (Reko) locomotives of East Germany's Class 58.30, converted between 1958 and 1962, attained the performance of the Class 44s, at least on the plains.
Construction
A Class 44 cylinder and section of locomotive frameNo. 2 driving axle of a Class 44
The top speed of the standard variant was 80km/h, the prototypes (44 001 to 44 010) were permitted to run at 70km/h. The engine is designed as a 3-cylinder locomotive with one cylinder located in the middle. The outside cylinders drive the third axle, the inside one drives the second.
Standard 2′2′T32 and 2′2′T34 tenders were used. Both types held 10 tonnes of coal.
Variants
The Class 44 used a lot of steam and correspondingly large amounts of coal. In order to simplify the work and hold its power steady, 32 locomotives were converted to oil-firing by the DB in 1958 and 91 by the DR in 1963. With oil firing, the viscous fuel oil, almost solid when cold, is liquefied by a jet of steam, atomised and then combusted. The job of the stoker consists of starting the burner, greasing and pumping.
The DB's oil-fired locomotives ran under the classification 043 in the new EDP-generated numbering scheme of 1968 until they were retired. These numbers were spare because all DRG Class 43 engines belonged to the DR's fleet. The engines with grate firing were given the designation 044. The DR converted 20 locomotives to Wendler coal dust firing. These proved themselves well on the ramps of the Thuringian Forest with their precise firing. However no more locomotives were converted, as oil-firing was generally favoured because it enabled unrestricted operations.
Oil-fired 043 (044) class enters Rheine from the north, Easter 1974
Following the 1973 oil crisis, all oil-fired engines in the DR were reconverted to coal-firing, because they were indispensable for operations. They were given the old operating numbers that they had previously carried prior to their modification to oil-firing. In the DB, they were not reconverted because they were soon due for retirement. The last coal-fired Class 44 locomotive with the DB was taken out of service in 1977 at the Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck shed. On its final journey, number 043 903-4 hauled train 81453 (consisting of a breakdown train equipment wagon) from Oldersum to Emden on 26 October 1977 for the Neubauamt Nord. It was the last scheduled steam service on the Deutsche Bundesbahn.
In 1932 and 1933 the firm of Henschel built two trial locomotives designed for a raised boiler overpressure of 25 bars (25.5kgf/cm2; 363psi) and equipped with four-cylinder compounding, which were also incorporated into Class 44. The two engines, which initially ran under the numbers M011004 and M011005, and later as 44011 and 44012, were certainly very powerful, but also high-maintenance. As a result, the initial boiler pressure of 25 bar was reduced to 20 bars (20.4kgf/cm2; 290psi) in 1935 and again to 16 bars (16.3kgf/cm2; 232psi) in 1939.
After the Second World War, number 44011 went to the Deutsche Bundesbahn and 44 012 to the DR. The DB engine, being a one-off, was retired as early as 1950. Number 44012 was operated by the FVA Halle as a braking locomotive and not retired until 1962.
In 1975, the repair shop at Brunswick fitted a Riggenbach counter-pressure brake to 44404. The Bundesbahn Federal Railway Office in Minden used this engine as a braking engine to test new electric locomotives. In 1977 it was retired. It stands today in the Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft's BR 01 steam locomotives were the first standardised (Einheitsdampflokomotive) steam express passenger locomotives built by the unified German railway system. They were of 4-6-2 "Pacific" wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2′C1′ h2 in the UIC classification. The idea of standardisation was that it would reduce maintenance costs; i.e. if a BR 01 whose engine shop was in, say, Berlin broke down in Dresden, instead of having to ship the necessary part from Berlin and take the locomotive out of service, a part from the Dresden shop could be used as all of the engines, parts, and workings were exactly the same and produced nationwide. Thus it was a "standard" product for engine shops.
The Prussian state railways' Class P 10 were 2-8-2 "Mikado" type passenger-hauling steam locomotives built for hauling heavy express trains in the hilly terrain of the Mittelgebirge. They were the last Prussian passenger train steam locomotives to be developed in Prussia before the state railways were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn, who eventually designated them as DRG Class 39.
The DRB Class 50 is a German class of 2-10-0 locomotive, built from 1939 as a standard locomotive (Einheitsdampflokomotive) for hauling goods trains. It had one leading axle and five coupled axles and was one of the most successful designs produced for the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
The Prussian Class P 8 of the Prussian state railways was a 4-6-0 steam locomotive built from 1906 to 1923 by the Berliner Maschinenbau and twelve other German factories. The design was created by Robert Garbe. It was intended as a successor to the Prussian P 6, which was regarded as unsatisfactory.
The two-cylinder, superheated Bavarian Pt 2/3 engine was built by Krauss for the Royal Bavarian State Railways between 1909 and 1915. With its characteristic design - a carrying axle placed well to the front and two coupled axles at the rear under the outer firebox they asserted themselves over the rival Bavarian Pt 2/4 N and H classes and, after the demand fell for the services for which they were originally designed, they continued to be operated well into the 1960s on south German branch lines.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn had a standard passenger train tank engine with a wheel arrangement of 1′C1′ or 2-6-2 and a low axle load, which was designated in their classification system as the DRG Class 64. The Class 64 was developed from 1926 onwards and it was built between 1928 and 1940. Many German manufacturers contributed to the series.
The DRG Class 86 was a standard goods train tank locomotive with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. It was intended for duties on branch lines and was delivered by almost all the locomotive building firms working for the Reichsbahn. From 1942 it was built in a simplified version as a 'transitional war locomotive'. The most obvious changes were the omission of the second side windows in the cab and the solid disc carrying wheels.
The DRG Class 24 steam engines were German standard locomotives (Einheitslokomotiven) built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn between 1928 and 1939 to haul passenger trains.
The DRB Class 42 was a type of steam locomotive produced for the Deutsche Reichsbahn. It is one of the three main classes of the so-called war locomotives (Kriegslokomotiven), the other two being class 50 and 52.
The Prussian G 8.1 was steam locomotive operated by the Prussian state railways. It was a heavier, stronger development of the G 8 and was initially referred to as a 'strengthened standard class'.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn Class 01.10 was a series of express steam locomotives. Developed at the end of the 1930s it was part of the standard locomotive programme (Einheitsdampflokomotiven). Modernized in the 1950s, the class lasted almost until the end of steam operation at the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB).
The Class 62 engines were standard passenger train tank locomotives of Germany's Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG).
The DRG Class 89.0 was a goods train tank engine of standard design built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRG).
The German Class 03.10 engines were standard steam locomotives (Einheitsdampflokomotiven) belonging to the Deutsche Reichsbahn and designed for hauling express trains.
The steam locomotives of DB Class 65 were newly designed, German, passenger train tank locomotives, built for the Deutsche Bundesbahn after the Second World War. They were intended for suburban and commuter trains serving German cities, where they were to replace Classes 78 and 93.5. As a result, they were allocated to the locomotive depots at Darmstadt, Düsseldorf and Letmathe. Between Düsseldorf and Essen they were even used on early S-Bahn services. And between Limburg/Lahn and Wiesbaden and in the area of Darmstadt they also hauled goods trains.
The Prussian Class T 3 steam locomotives procured for the Prussian state railways were 0-6-0 tank locomotives. Together with the Prussian T 2 they were the first locomotives that were built to railway norms. The first units were delivered by Henschel in 1882.
The Prussian G 8.2 class of locomotives actually incorporated two different locomotive types: one was the Prussian/Oldenburg G 8.2, for which the Deutsche Reichsbahn subsequently issued follow-on orders; the other was the G 8.2 of the Lübeck-Büchen Railway.
References
Weisbrod, Manfred; Müller, Hans; Petznik, Wolfgang (1978). Dampflokomotiven deutscher Eisenbahnen, Baureihe 41–59 (EFA 1.2) (in German) (3rded.). Düsseldorf: Alba. pp.28–41. ISBN3-87094-082-4.
Further reading
Sell, Heinrich (2005). Starke Loks für schwere Züge - Die Baureihe 44 bei der DR (in German). Freiburg: Eisenbahn-Bildarchiv, EK-Verlag. ISBN978-3-88255-356-7.
Konzelmann, Peter (1981). Die Baureihe 44 (in German). Freiburg: EK-Verlag. ISBN3-88255-144-5.
Weisbrod, Manfred (1994). Die Baureihe 44 (in German). Fürstenfeldbruck: Hermann Merker Verlag. ISBN3-922404-55-3.
Weisbrod, Manfred; Brozeit, Wolfram (1983). Die Lokomotiven der BR 44 - Ihr Weg durch sechs Jahrzehnte (in German). Düsseldorf: alba-Verlag. ISBN3-87094-122-7.
External links
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