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The two German DRG Class 61 steam engines were express train locomotives specifically built by Henschel for the Henschel-Wegmann train in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. The Henschel-Wegmann train was an initiative of the German locomotive construction industry, intended to be able to demonstrate a powerful steam locomotive-hauled train alongside the emerging express diesel multiple units, such as the Hamburg Flyer.
Because it was planned to run the train in shuttle services to a tight time schedule, it was necessary that the engine could run at top speed in both directions. This resulted in a tank locomotive rather than the tender locomotive design otherwise used for long-distance high-speed links. In order to be able to attain the high running performance aimed at, locomotives and coaches were designed to be especially light, albeit the coal and water supplies still had to be sufficient for a one-way trip on the planned route.
In building them, component designs from the Deutsche Reichsbahn's standard steam locomotives ( Einheitsdampflokomotiven ) were used as far as possible, but in quite a number of areas other components were used. The boiler overpressure was set at the higher level of 20 atm (293.9 psi), whereas those of the standard locos were operated at 16 atm (235.1 psi). Both locomotives were fitted with a streamlined shell. The water tank tapered at the front and gave the engine driver and stoker a good all-round view of the line. The "cover plates" covered the drive completely.
In contrast to the first engine, 61 002, which was built later, had a drive with three cylinders and larger supply tanks. To support the latter, the rear carrying bogie was extended to three axles. As a result of the more powerful drive, the punctuality of the train was improved - it had been unsatisfactory with 61 001. In addition the second locomotive had smoke deflectors on top next to the smoke exhaust, which were not fitted to 61 001.
With its 2,300-millimetre (90.55-inch) diameter driving wheels, the locomotive itself achieved the planned speed of 175 km/h without any difficulty, but when hauling its streamlined train it could only reach 160. Nevertheless, the scheduled service between Dresden and Berlin was successfully delivered, the 176-kilometre (109 mi) long route being completed in just 102 minutes, a time that, even today (2008), has still not been beaten on this route despite the use of faster electric locomotives. However it was pushed to complete the short turnaround allowed in Dresden because the locomotive not only had to run around, but also replenish its supplies.
When 61 001 was not available or when either scheduled or unscheduled work was being carried out on her, a DRG Class 01 or DRG Class 03 headed the train. However, with top speeds of only 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph), they could not come close to 61 001's record.
Not long after construction work had begun on 61 001, its variant 61 002 was planned and built at the start of 1939. In May that year, the first factory trial runs were carried out and the locomotive was transferred on 12 June 1939 to the locomotive depot (Bahnbetriebswerk or Bw) at Grunewald. It was likely taken into service at the beginning of 1939/40, so it almost certainly would not have been hauling the streamlined train in regular passenger service due to the outbreak of the war and the Henschel-Wegmann train being reserved for Wehrmacht purposes.
After the cessation of the train's operations at the start of 1939, 61 001 was used for heating duties at Bw Berlin-Grunewald. From December 1940, it found itself once again in Dresden-Altstadt on express train services and was given conventional train and buffer equipment in November 1942. Its operations log shows that it was only sparingly used. From 1943 to the war's end, the Reichsbahn repair shop (Reichsbahnsausbesserungswerk or RAW) at Braunschweig was responsible for the engine. Between July 1945 and March 1946, it travelled about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) hauling passenger trains.
Locomotive 61 001 found itself in the British Zone at the end of the war and was allocated to Bw Hannover, but seldom used. In 1947 it had a general inspection and on 23 October 1948 it was stationed in Bebra, where it was in regular service until May 1949. After a brief withdrawal, it again clocked up distances of 3,000 to 10,000 kilometres (1,900 to 6,200 miles) per month from November 1950. On 2 November 1951 the engine suffered serious damage following an accident in Münster, whereupon it was retired on 14 November 1952 and scrapped in 1957.
Locomotive 61 002 remained in Dresden and was employed in passenger train service there. As a one-off it was however always a problem to use it for regular operations. For the Engineering Trials and Development Unit at Halle (Versuchs- und Entwicklungsstelle für Maschinenwirtschaft or VES-M Halle ) under Max Baumberg, it was however interesting as an experimental engine for speeds over 160 km/h (99 mph). It was converted in 1961 by the DR in East Germany in RAW Meiningen to a fast experimental locomotive with a tender and reclassified as 18 201. With a modern boiler, the outer cylinders of H 45 024, a newly welded inner cylinder and the carrying axle of a high pressure locomotive, H 45 024, it reached speeds of up to 180 km/h (110 mph). In 2002, number 18 201 was totally overhauled in the Meiningen steam engine shop and is now in the possession of the Steam Plus company (Dampf-Plus GmbH) owned by Christian Goldschagg and Axel Zwingenberger.
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 Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 05 was a German class of three express passenger steam locomotives of 4-6-4 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2′C2′ h3 in the UIC notation used in continental Europe. They were part of the DRG's standard locomotive (Einheitslokomotive) series.
German Class 45 steam locomotives were standard locomotives (Einheitslokomotiven) designed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn for hauling goods trains.
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 German DRG Class 02 engines were standard (Einheitslokomotiven) express train locomotives with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. Number 02 001 was the first Einheitsdampflokomotive in the DRG to be completed.
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 locomotives of DRG Class 43 were standard goods train engines with the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
The German Class 03.10 engines were standard steam locomotives (Einheitsdampflokomotiven) belonging to the Deutsche Reichsbahn and designed for hauling express trains.
The Prussian T 18 was the last class of tank locomotives developed for the Prussian state railways. They were originally intended for services on the island of Rügen as replacements for Class T 12 and T 10 engines. They emerged when a class of locomotive was conceived in 1912 that was to handle express and passenger trains in border areas or in shuttle services on short routes. A tank engine design with symmetrical running gear was envisaged because, unlike a tender locomotive, it could run equally fast forwards and backwards and could be operated on return journeys without having to be turned on a turntable. Its power and top speed were to be the same as those of the P 8. Robert Garbe designed this 4-6-4 (2′C2′) tank locomotive for 100 km/h with a 17-ton axle load and contracted the Vulkan Werke in Stettin to build it. It was given the designation T 18.
The Oldenburg G 4.2 steam locomotives were goods train engines built for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg State Railways between 1895 and 1909 in several series.
The Rekolokomotives of DR Class 52.80 first appeared in 1960 in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany as extensive rebuilds of the wartime locomotives or Kriegslokomotiven of the DRB Class 52 built by Nazi Germany. This modernisation, described as 'reconstruction', extended to almost all of the components and systems on the engine.
The steam locomotives of DR Class 22 were reconstructed passenger train locomotives in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany after the Second World War.
The Saxon Class XVIII was a German six-coupled tender locomotive built for the Royal Saxon State Railways in 1917/18 for express train services. The Deutsche Reichsbahn grouped them in 1925 into DRG Class 18.0.
The German express locomotive, number 18 201 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany, appeared in 1960–61 at Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works as a conversion of the Henschel-Wegmann train locomotive 61 002, the tender from 44 468 and parts of H 45 024 and Class 41. It is the fastest operational steam locomotive in the world.
The Henschel-Wegmann Train was an advanced passenger express train operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Germany, which ran non-stop express services between Berlin and Dresden from June 1936 to August 1939. Both the DRG Class 61 steam locomotive at its head as well as the coaches were streamlined.
Locomotive numbers 1 to 3 on the Lübeck-Büchen railway in Germany were streamlined tank locomotives. The locomotives had a 2-4-2T wheel arrangement, a two-cylinder, superheated engine and were capable of push-pull operations. In order to ensure a symmetrical running gear, both carrying axles were built as Bissel bogies, which were fitted with return devices for improved running.
The Prussian S 6 was a class of German steam locomotive with a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement operated by the Prussian state railways for express train services.
The Prussian state railways grouped a variety of different types of passenger tank locomotive into its Prussian Class T 5. Several examples of the sub-classes T 5.1 and T 5.2 transferred into the Deutsche Reichsbahn as DRG Classes 71.0 and 72.0.