The ''Kleinlokomotiven'' (literally: small locomotives) of Class I were light German locomotives of low weight and power (up to 40 PS) designed for shunting duties. They were placed in service by 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 ...

(DRG) after trials had been carried out on several prototype locomotives in 1930. The power source for these locomotives was either a diesel or

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ' ...

History

After the Deutsche Reichsbahn had initially obtained several trials locomotives in 1930, it took delivery of production '' Kleinloks'' in 1931 and split them into two classes or 'power groups'. Locomotives in power group I, with an engine power of up to 40 PS (29 kW), were intended for shunting at small stations and in simple situations. As a result of the new numbering scheme two of the trials engines from 1930 were also included in Class I. These were locomotives V 6016 and V 6017 (from 1931 Kö 0001 and Kö 0002) delivered by the Fürst-Stolberg-Hütte works at

Ilsenburg Ilsenburg () is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. It is situated under the north foot of the Harz Mountains, at the entrance to the Ilse valley with its little river, the Ilse, a tributary of the Oker, about six north ...

. They did not acquit themselves well due to numerous defects and were retired again by 1932. Whilst, as early as 1931, the DRG had issued several specifications for locomotives in Class II, for Class I it simply ordered locomotives of the manufacturer's designs between 1931 and 1934, in order to keep procurement costs down. These locomotives were delivered by Jung, Orenstein & Koppel,

Windhoff Windhoff is a German manufacturer of specialised railways rolling stock, and heavy industrial plant. The company was founded in 1889. The company is well known for its CargoSprinter rail vehicle, and derivatives. History The company started ou ...

and

Gmeinder Gmeinder GmbH was a German locomotive and engineering company based in Mosbach. Its products included diesel engines, small locomotives (shunters) and other railway locomotive parts. Much of its business came through the German railways, though i ...

. They were not permitted to leave the station, because they were too light to achieve reliable rail contact.

The ''Einheitskleinlokomotiven''

Once it had been demonstrated that the employment of low power Class I locomotives was economical, the project team developed a standard, small locomotive (''Einheitskleinlokomotive'') for the DRG. This was heavily based on the latest delivery from Gmeinder. As a result, the entire locomotive, apart from the diesel engine, was standardised. The footplate on the locomotives was open at the sides and all controls were duplicated on both sides of the engine. The ''Kleinlokomotiven'' had buffers and a very simple shunting coupling, that could be automatically coupled and then released using a foot pedal. Transmission was achieved from the engine using simple roller chains on both axles. The locomotives only had a foot brake and no compressed air brake. The first type of ''Einheitskleinlokomotive'' was further evolved in 1935 into a more robust and powerful model. This was given a much stronger frame and more powerful engine. Due to their greater weight these locomotives were allowed to range outside of stations. In order to be able to use home-produced fuels, from 1942 to 1945 many locomotives were converted and driven on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). 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 opposi ...

they were converted back again however to diesel operation.

Technical data

Post 1945

The Deutsche Bundesbahn retired the manufacturer-designed ''Kleinlokomotiven'' and the 1934 standard class engines by 1963. They also standardised the rest of the ''Kleinloks'' between 1954 and 1962. As part of that, the locomotives were given the more powerful, air-cooled, 50 PS, Deutz F4L514 engines. As a result of this increase in power the numbering system was changed – from then on, locomotives with a power of up to 50 PS were allocated to Class I. The ''Kleinlokomotiven'' in Class I were ousted by those in classes II and III. In addition the traffic in part-load goods fell, so that most of the engines were retired by the DB in the 1960s and 1970s. In the Deutsche Reichsbahn there was an attempt to introduce a standard engine type, otherwise there were only minor modifications. In the 1970s they too retired most of the locomotives. Some of the retirements were officially called conversions; actually a new Class II locomotive was built by the Dessau shop (''

Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk An Ausbesserungswerk (abbreviation AW or Aw) is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair (and formerly also the construction) of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a ...

'' or ''Raw'').

Preserved

Several of the engines have been preserved in their original design and are in use. For example: * Kö 0049 at Schwarzenberg/Erzgeb. Railway Museum * Kö 0128 of the AG Märkische Kleinbahn in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

* Kö 0130 is displayed in Pyskowice Railway Museum in Pyskowice * Kö 0186 is displayed in the Art and Technology Gallery at Schorndorf. * Kö 0281 as a V2 on the Hesper Valley Railway ('' Hespertalbahn'')

Sources

External links

Axel Klatts Kleinlok website

deutsche-kleinloks.de

AG Märkische Kleinbahn
{{DRG locomotives Diesel locomotives of Germany Ko I B locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1930 Standard gauge locomotives of Germany Shunting locomotives