The German DRB Class 06 engines were standard steam locomotives (''

Einheitsdampflokomotive The Einheitsdampflokomotiven ("standard steam locomotives"), sometimes shortened to ''Einheitslokomotiven'' or ''Einheitsloks'', were the standardized steam locomotives built in Germany after 1925 under the direction of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gese ...

n'') with the

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...

(DRB) designed to haul

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than Local train, local trains that stop at most or all of the s ...

services. They were the only German locomotives with a 4-8-4 (Northern)

wheel arrangement In rail transport, a wheel arrangement or wheel configuration is a system of classifying the way in which wheels are distributed under a locomotive. Several notations exist to describe the wheel assemblies of a locomotive by type, position, and c ...

History

The two Class 06 locomotives built by the firm of

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

in 1939 were the largest, heaviest and most powerful locomotives in the

. They were built for heavy express train duties in hilly terrain. The performance requirement was for the transportation of 650 tons at 120 km/h. On ramps of 1:100 it was to still be capable of maintaining 60 km/h. The Class 06 was given the same

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

as the Class 45 and many of the same components as the Class 41. The

running gear In railway terminology the term running gear refers to those components of a railway vehicle that run passively on the rails, unlike those of the driving gear. Traditionally these are the wheels, axles, axle boxes, springs and vehicle frame of a ...

, with four

coupled axles On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled to ...

, had a

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

of 6,75 m. In trials, the vehicles confirmed their remarkable capability and running qualities. However the locomotives tended to derail in tight turnout curves. And, like the Class 45s, the boilers developed cracks, leaky tubes and popped stay bolts, so that the locomotives were unconvincing when hauling measurement vehicles or scheduled trains. As a result of the war no more were produced. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

there was no longer a requirement for a locomotive of this size, so that neither the necessary structural modification of the engines was carried out, nor did any follow-on orders result. Both engines were seen as having a faulty design and were retired by the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

in 1951 in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and scrapped, because the DB refused to replace their boilers. The two locomotives, which had operating numbers 06 001 and 06 002, were equipped with 2'3 T 38 St tenders.

References

External links

Photograph of the Class 06
{{DRG locomotives 06 4-8-4 locomotives 06 Krupp locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1939 Streamlined steam locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Germany 2′D2′ h3 locomotives Passenger locomotives

History

See also

References

External links