DRG Class 44
Encyclopedia
The Class 44 was a ten-coupled, heavy goods train steam 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 tons on the routes through Germany's hilly regions (Mittelgebirge) and up to 600 tons on steep inclines.
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:
The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) gave 9 engines back to the Deutsche Bundesbahn
(DB) in 1952. The DB transferred at least 291 engines to the French railways SNCF
as reparations
. These were predominantly locomotives that had been built in France. The SNCF sold on 48 engines in 1955 to the Turkish State Railway (TCDD).
Until their replacement by modern diesel
and electric locomotive
s, 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.
Standard 2'2' T 32 and 2'2' T 34 tenders
were used. Both types held 10 tons of coal.
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.
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 had before 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 schedule steam service in the Deutsche Bundesbahn
.
, Netherlands
.
The following non-working Class 44s can be visited in various German railway museums:
Monuments include:
Details of other locomotives are given in the list of preserved steam locomotives in Germany.
, which were also incorporated into Class 44. The two engines, which initially ran under the numbers M 01 1004 and M 01 1005, and later as 44 011 and 44 012, were certainly very powerful, but also high-maintenance. As a result the initial boiler pressure of 25 bar was quickly reduced to 16 bar.
After the Second World War, number 44 011 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 44 012 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 44 404. 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
.
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
as a standard steam engine class (Einheitsdampflokomotive
Einheitsdampflokomotive
The German term Einheitsdampflokomotive, sometimes shortened to Einheitslokomotive or Einheitslok, means standard steam locomotive and refers to the steam engines built in Germany after 1925 under the direction of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft...
). Its sub-class was G 56.20 and it had triple cylinders
Cylinder (steam locomotive)
The cylinders of a steam locomotive are the components that convert the power stored in the steam into motion.Cylinders may be arranged in several different ways.-Early locomotives:...
. It was intended for hauling goods trains of up to 1,200 tons on the routes through Germany's hilly regions (Mittelgebirge) and up to 600 tons on steep inclines.
History
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 43DRG Class 43
The German locomotives of DRG Class 43 were standard goods train engines with the Deutsche Reichsbahn.This was the second class that was built on the Einheitslok principle. According to the first classification scheme of the DR's Standardisation Bureau, 2-10-0 goods train locomotives were to be...
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
Übergangskriegslokomotive
The Übergangskriegslokomotiven were austere versions of standard locomotives built by Germany during the Second World War in order to accelerate their production. They are often just called 'ÜK' locomotives.In the Second World War the requirement for motive power, especially goods train...
). 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
Smoke deflectors
Smoke deflectors are vertical plates attached to the front of a steam locomotive on each side of the smokebox. They are designed to lift smoke away from the locomotive at speed so that the driver has better visibility unimpaired by drifting smoke....
(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:
- DBDeutsche BundesbahnThe Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
(from 09/1949): 1,242 units - DR (East Germany): 335 units
- PKPPolskie Koleje Panstwoweis the dominant railway operator in Poland.The company was founded when the former state-owned operator was divided into several units based on the requirements laid down by the European Union...
: 67 units (classified as Ty4) - ČSDCSDCSD may refer to:*Cali Swag District*California School for the Deaf*Cambridge Structural Database*Canonical signed digit*Canteen Stores Department *Canteen Stores Department *Carbonated Soft Drink*Cat scratch disease...
: 3 units - ÖBBÖBBThe Austrian Federal Railways is the national railway system of Austria, and the administrators of Liechtenstein's railways...
: 11 units - SNCFSNCFThe SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
: 15 units (classified as Class 150 X)
The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) gave 9 engines back to the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
(DB) in 1952. The DB transferred at least 291 engines to the French railways SNCF
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
as reparations
War reparations
War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...
. These were predominantly locomotives that had been built in France. The SNCF sold on 48 engines in 1955 to the Turkish State Railway (TCDD).
Until their replacement by modern diesel
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
and electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
s, 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
DR Class 58.30
After the Second World War, the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany had a requirement for powerful goods train locomotives with a 15-18 tonne axle load for routes in the Mittelgebirge mountains. As a result the DR Class 58.30 emerged, as part of the so-called 'reconstruction programme', based on...
, converted between 1958 and 1962, attained the performance of the Class 44s, at least on the plains.
Construction
The top speed of the standard variant was 80 km/h, the prototypes (44 001 to 44 010) were permitted to run at 70 km/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' T 32 and 2'2' T 34 tenders
Tender locomotive
A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing the locomotive's fuel and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so tenders are necessary to keep the locomotive running over long distances. A locomotive...
were used. Both types held 10 tons 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, heavy 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
Electronic data processing
Electronic Data Processing can refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data. Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process large volumes of similar information...
-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
Thuringian Forest
The Thuringian Forest running northwest to southeast, forms a continuous stretch of ancient rounded mountains posing ample difficulties in transit routing save through a few navigable passes in the southern reaches of the German state of Thuringia. It is about long and wide...
with their precise firing. However no more locomotives were converted, as oil-firing was generally favoured because it enabled unrestricted operations.
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 had before 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
Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
-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 schedule steam service in the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
.
Preserved Locomotives
At present there are still two working "44s" in the world. At the 'traditional locomotive shed' at Stassfurt (Traditionsbetriebswerk Staßfurt), stands number 44 1486, the only current representative of her class in Germany. In addition, number 44 1593 remains operational with the Veluwsche Stoomtrein Maatschappij (VSM) in BeekbergenBeekbergen
Beekbergen is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Apeldoorn, about 5 km south of that city.Beekbergen was a separate municipality until 1818, when it became a part of Apeldoorn....
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
The following non-working Class 44s can be visited in various German railway museums:
- 44 1093, owned by the DB Museum, in ArnstadtArnstadtArnstadt is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, situated on the Gera River. It is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia and is nicknamed Das Tor zum Thüringer Wald, The Gate to the Thuringian Forest....
shed - 44 1338, the former heating engine, in the Saxon Railway MuseumSaxon Railway MuseumThe Saxon Railway Museum is located in Chemnitz, in the state of Saxony, eastern Germany. It is situated on the site of the former locomotive depot for goods train locomotives in the district Hilbersdorf.After the locomotive depot was closed in 1992, the society moved into the buildings which...
(Sächsisches Eisenbahnmuseum) at Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf - 44 404 (see section on Trial Locomotives) in the Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway MuseumDarmstadt-Kranichstein Railway MuseumThe Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum a railway museum in the German city of Darmstadt. It is also the largest railway museum in the state of Hesse....
- 44 1558 in GelsenkirchenGelsenkirchenGelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
-Bismarck - 44 508 in the former satellite shed at WesterburgWesterburgWesterburg is a small town of roughly 6,000 inhabitants in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is named after the castle built on a hill above the mediaeval town centre -Location:...
(Westerwald)
Monuments include:
- 043 903 remains preserved as a monument on the railway forecourt in EmdenEmdenEmden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
- 044 389-5 as a monument in AltenbekenAltenbekenAltenbeken is a municipality in the district of Paderborn, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Altenbeken is situated in the Eggegebirge, approx. 15 km northeast of Paderborn...
.
Details of other locomotives are given in the list of preserved steam locomotives in Germany.
Trial Locomotives
In 1932 and 1933 the firm of Henschel built two trial locomotives designed for a raised boiler overpressure of 25 bar and equipped with four-cylinder compoundingCompound locomotive
A compound engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure cylinder, then having given up heat and losing pressure, it exhausts directly into one or more larger...
, which were also incorporated into Class 44. The two engines, which initially ran under the numbers M 01 1004 and M 01 1005, and later as 44 011 and 44 012, were certainly very powerful, but also high-maintenance. As a result the initial boiler pressure of 25 bar was quickly reduced to 16 bar.
After the Second World War, number 44 011 went to the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
and 44 012 to the DR. The DB engine, being a one-off, was retired as early as 1950. Number 44 012 was operated by the FVA Halle as a braking locomotive and not retired until 1962.
In 1975, the repair shop at Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
fitted a Riggenbach counter-pressure brake
Counter-pressure brake
The counter-pressure brake , also named the Riggenbach counter-pressure brake after its inventor, Niklaus Riggenbach, is a dynamic railway brake on steam locomotives that, through a combination of means, brakes the locomotive in the driving cylinders...
to 44 404. 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
Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum
The Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum a railway museum in the German city of Darmstadt. It is also the largest railway museum in the state of Hesse....
.
Sources
- Heinrich Sell: Starke Loks für schwere Züge - Die Baureihe 44 bei der DR. Eisenbahn-Bildarchiv, EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-88255-356-7
- Peter Konzelmann: Die Baureihe 44. EK-Verlag, Freiburg, 1981, ISBN 3-88255-144-5
- Manfred Weisbrod: Die Baureihe 44. Hermann Merker Verlag, Fürstenfeldbruck, 1994, ISBN 3-922404-55-3
- Manfred Weisbrod, Wolfram Brozeit: Die Lokomotiven der BR 44 - Ihr Weg durch sechs Jahrzehnte. alba-Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1983, ISBN 3-87094-122-7
External links
- Stassfurt Railway Society (Eisenbahnfreunde Stassfurt)
- Zollern Railway Society
- www.museumslok.de
- Westerburg Railway Museum - Home of 44 508
- There is a relevant English-language forum at Railways of Germany