DRG Class 61
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The two German DRG Class 61
steam engines A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
were
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 ...
locomotives specifically built by
Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicle ...
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 unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
s, such as the Hamburg Flyer.


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 A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...
rather than the
tender locomotive A tender or coal-car (US only) is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel (wood, coal, oil or torrefied biomass) and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so ...
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 (''
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'') were used as far as possible, but in quite a number of areas other components were used. The
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 ...
overpressure Overpressure (or blast overpressure) is the pressure caused by a shock wave over and above normal atmospheric pressure. The shock wave may be caused by sonic boom or by explosion, and the resulting overpressure receives particular attention when m ...
was set at the higher level of , whereas those of the standard locos were operated at . 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 A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...
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.


Operation

With its 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 Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
and
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
was successfully delivered, the 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 The Class 03 steam engines were standard express train locomotives ('' Einheitslokomotiven'') in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. History The Class 03 engines were built between 1930 and 1938 as express train locomotives for ro ...
headed the train. However, with top speeds of only , 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 Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...
. 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 The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
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 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 Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...
, 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 break, it again clocked up distances of 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 may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...
(''Versuchs- und Entwicklungsstelle für Maschinenwirtschaft'' or''
VES-M Halle The Versuchs- und Entwicklungsstelle Maschinenwirtschaft in Halle, Germany, (VES-M Halle) was a railway research and development department working for the engineering head office of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) in East Germany after the Second Wor ...
'') under Max Baumberg, it was however interesting as an experimental engine for speeds over . It was converted in 1961 by the DR in
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
in '' RAW Meiningen'' to a fast experimental locomotive with a tender and reclassified as 18 201. With a modern boiler, the outer
cylinders A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...
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 . In 2002, number 18 201 was totally overhauled in the
Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).
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 (born 7 May 1955) is a German blues and boogie-woogie pianist and songwriter. Biography Zwingenberger was born in Hamburg, West Germany, and enjoyed eleven years of classical piano training. After listening to recordings by pi ...
.


See also

* Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft * List of DRG locomotives and railbuses * Grunewald Locomotive Research Office *
MÁV Class 242 MÁV Class 242 was a 4-4-4T steam locomotive of Hungarian State Railways. A small class of only four examples, they were built between 1936 and 1939. They were highly unusual in that they were streamlined tank locomotives. Design Hungarian ra ...
, a Hungarian streamlined 4-4-4T of similar age and purpose


Literature

* * * * {{Authority control 61 4-6-4T locomotives 4-6-6T locomotives Streamlined steam locomotives 61 Henschel locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1935 Standard gauge locomotives of Germany Articles containing video clips 2′C2′ h2t locomotives 2′C3′ h3t locomotives Passenger locomotives