DRG Class 61 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

DRG Class 61

Number(s):	DRG 61 001	DRG 61 002
Quantity:	1	1
Manufacturer:	Henschel
Year of manufacture:	1935	1939
Retired:	1952	Rebuilt to 18 201 DR 18 201 The German express locomotive, number 18 201 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany, appeared in 1960-61 at Meiningen repair shop 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...
Wheel arrangement (Whyte Whyte notation The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal... ):	4-6-4 4-6-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles .Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification:... T	4-6-6T
Axle arrangement ((UIC UIC classification The UIC classification of locomotive axle arrangements describes the wheel arrangement of locomotives, multiple units and trams. It is set out in the International Union of Railways "Leaflet 650 - Standard designation of axle arrangement on locomotives and multiple-unit sets". It is used in much... ):	2'C2' h2	2'C3' h3
Sub-class:	St 37.18	St 38.18
Length over buffers Buffer (rail transport) A buffer is a part of the buffers-and-chain coupling system used on the railway systems of many countries, among them most of those in Europe, for attaching railway vehicles to one another.... :	18.475 m (60.6 ft)	18.825 m (61.8 ft)
Gauge Rail gauge Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers... :
Service weight:	129.1 t (127.1 LT)	146.2 t (143.9 LT)
Adhesive weight Adhesive weight Adhesive weight is the amount of a locomotive's weight that is applied to the driving wheels and so capable of delivering traction. The more weight applied to the driving wheels, the greater the locomotive's ability to haul a load. But if the weight on the driving wheels exceeds the axle load of... :	56.7 t (55.8 LT)	56.3 t (55.4 LT)
Axle load Axle load The axle load of a wheeled vehicle is the total weight felt by the roadway for all wheels connected to a given axle. Viewed another way, it is the fraction of total vehicle weight resting on a given axle... :	19 t (18.7 LT)	18.8 t (18.5 LT)
Top speed:	175 km/h (108.7 mph)
Indicated power:	1066 kW
Driving wheel Driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons... diameter:	2.3 m (7.5 ft)
Leading wheel Leading wheel The leading wheel or leading axle of a steam locomotive is an unpowered wheel or axle located in front of the driving wheels. The axle or axles of the leading wheels are normally located in a truck... diameter:	1.1 m (3.6 ft)
Trailing wheel Trailing wheel On a steam locomotive, a trailing wheel or trailing axle is generally an unpowered wheel or axle located behind the driving wheels. The axle of the trailing wheels was usually located on a trailing truck... diameter:	1.1 m (3.6 ft)
Cylinder diameter:	460 mm (18.1 in)	390 mm (15.4 in)
Piston stroke:	750 mm (29.5 in)	660 mm (26 in)
Boiler Boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:... overpressure Overpressure The term Overpressure is applied to a pressure difference, relative to a "normal" or "ambient" pressure, in various circumstances:* In engineering: the pressure difference over the wall thickness of a pressure vessel... :	19.6 bar (1,960,000 Pa)
Grate area:	2.75 sqm	2.79 sqm
Superheater Superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into dry steam used for power generation or processes. There are three types of superheaters namely: radiant, convection, and separately fired... area:	69.2 sqm	73.4 sqm
Evaporative heating area:	151.65 sqm	149.82 sqm
Brakes:	Hildebrand-Knorr automatic Schnellbahnbremse with auxiliary brakes and counterweight brake. Operating on both sides of all coupled and carrying wheels Carrying wheels The carrying wheels on a steam locomotive are those wheels that are not driven, i.e. they are uncoupled and run freely, unlike coupled or driving wheels. They are also described as running wheels and their axle may be called a carrying axle. Carrying wheels are referred to as leading wheels if they... .
Water capacity:	17000 l (35,927.4 US pt)	21000 l (44,380.9 US pt)
Fuel capacity:	5 t (4.9 LT) coal	6 t (5.9 LT) coal

The two German DRG Class 61 steam engines

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...

were express train

Express train

Express trains are a form of rail service. Express trains make only a small number of stops, instead of stopping at every single station...

locomotives specifically built by Henschel for the Henschel-Wegmann train

Henschel-Wegmann Train

The Henschel-Wegmann Train was a unique 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...

in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn

Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft

The Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I....

. The Henschel-Wegmann train was an initiative of the German locomotive construction industry, intended to be able to demonstrate a powerful locomotive-hauled train alongside the emerging express railbuses.

Construction

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

Tank locomotive

A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...

rather than the tender locomotive

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...

design otherwise used for long-distance high-speed links. In order to be able to attain the high running performance aimed at, locomotive and coaches were designed to be especially light, albeit the coal and water supplies had still to be sufficient for a one-way trip on the planned route.

In building them, component designs from 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...

's standard steam locomotives (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...

n) were used as far as possible but, in quite a number of areas, other components were used. The boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

overpressure

Overpressure

The term Overpressure is applied to a pressure difference, relative to a "normal" or "ambient" pressure, in various circumstances:* In engineering: the pressure difference over the wall thickness of a pressure vessel...

was set at the higher level of 20 atm (19,6 bar), whereas those of the standard locos were operated at 16 atm (15,7 bar). Both locomotives were fitted with a streamlined shell. The water tank tapered at the front and gave the engine driver and stoker and 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

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....

on top next to the smoke exhaust, which were not fitted to 61 001.

Operation

With its 2.30 metre diameter driving wheels the locomotive itself achieved the planned speed of 175 km/h without any difficulty, but when hauling its streamlined train

Streamliner

A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "bullet trains". Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles...

it could only reach 160. Nevertheless the scheduled service between Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

was successfully delivered, the 176 kilometre 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

DRG Class 01

The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft's BR 01 steam locomotives were the first standardised 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...

or DRG Class 03

DRG Class 03

The Class 03 steam engines were standard express train locomotives in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn.- History :...

headed the train. But with top speeds of only 130 km/h they could not match that of 61 001 by a long way, however.

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 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

Grunewald

Grunewald is a locality within the Berliner borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Famous for the homonymous forest, until 2001 administrative reform it was part of the former district of Wilmersdorf.-Geography:The locality is situated in the western side of the city and is separated from...

. It was probably taken into service at the turn of the year in 1939/40, so it clearly would not have been hauling the streamlined train in regular passenger service, due to the outbreak of the war and the use of the Henschel-Wegmann train

Henschel-Wegmann Train

for Deutsche 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 only made a few runs however. 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 travedlled about 40,000 kilometres hauling passenger trains.

Survival post-1945

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

Bebra

Bebra is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Bebra lies some 45 km south of Kassel on the Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the Fuldaknie...

, where it was in regular service until May 1949. After a break, it again clocked up distances of 3,000 to 10,000 kilometres 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

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt

Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...

(Versuchs- und Entwicklungsstelle für Maschinenwirtschaft orVES-M Halle
VES-M Halle
The Versuchs- und Entwicklungsstelle Maschinenwirtschaft in Halle, Germany, was a railway research and development department working for the engineering head office of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany after the Second World War...

) under Max Baumberg, it was however interesting as an experimental engine for speeds over 160 km/h. It was converted in 1961 by the DR in East Germany in RAW Meiningen
Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works
The Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works is a railway repair shop in Meiningen, Germany. It is owned by Deutsche Bahn and has specialised in the maintenance of museum steam locomotives since 1990, having extensive experience in maintaining steam engines. Today, customers of the factory include...

to a fast experimental locomotive with a tender

Tender locomotive

and reclassified as 18 201

DR 18 201

The German express locomotive, number 18 201 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany, appeared in 1960-61 at Meiningen repair shop 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...

. 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

DRG Class 45

German Class 45 steam locomotives were standard locomotives designed by the Deutsche Reichsbahn for hauling goods trains.- History :...

, it reached speeds of up to 180 km/h. In 2002, number 18 201 was totally overhauled in the Meiningen

Meiningen

Meiningen is a town in Germany - located in the southern part of the state of Thuringia and is the district seat of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. It is situated on the river Werra....

steam engine shop and is now in the possession of the Steam Plus company (Dampf-Plus GmbH) owned by Christian Goldschagg and Axel Zwingenberger

Axel Zwingenberger

Axel Zwingenberger is a blues and boogie-woogie pianist, and songwriter. He is considered one of the finest boogie-woogie music masters in the world.-Biography:...

Literature

Alfred Gottwaldt: Die Baureihe 61 und der Henschel-Wegmann-Zug, EK-Verlag, Freiburg (2005) ISBN 978-3-88255-161-7
Leonhard Bergsteiner: 175 km/h mit Dampf. 70 Jahre Henschel-Wegmann-Zug. In: LOK MAGAZIN. Nr. 283/Jahrgang 44/2005. GeraNova Zeitschriftenverlag GmbH München, ISSN 0458-1822, S. 68-72.

External links

Detailed history and photographs
Photos
There is a relevant English-language forum at Railways of Germany

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Construction

Operation

Survival post-1945

Literature

See also

External links