The DR Class 119 was an

East German Deutsche Reichsbahn The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR ''(German Reich Railways)'' was the operating name of state owned railways in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and after German reunification until 1 January 1994. In 1949, occupied Germany's railwa ...

diesel locomotive that was built in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. When the Deutsche Bahn AG formed up in 1993 it was redesignated as DBAG Class 219. They were nicknamed "U-boats", "Karpatenschreck" ("Carpathian Terror") or "Ceaușescus Rache" ("Ceaușescu's revenge") - the latter two referring to the numerous technical problems the engines suffered before redesign.

History

The Class 119 was basically a development of the successful Class 118. In the late 1970s the DR needed locomotives with electric train heating, an axle load (''Achsfahrmasse'') of under 16 t and a power output of over 2,000 horsepower. As a result of the

Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of s ...

agreements, the

East German 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 ...

economy was not allowed to build diesel locomotives with more than 1,500 horsepower. The locomotive builders of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

could only supply heavy engines - the Classes 130-132 and 142. The only engine builder, who also wanted to use the "construction kit" (''Baukasten'') principle was the "23rd August" Locomotive Works, Bucharest, in

. The Romanian manufacturer declared itself also ready to install diesel engines produced in East Germany. The installation of such engines did not happen, however, because there were coordination problems in East Germany's national planning commission. In order the fulfil the order, the Bucharest factory installed engines under licence from the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

manufacturer, MTU. Other countries in Comecon also received subcontractor orders. East Germany itself supplied ''inter alia'' hydrodynamic transmissions and axle motors. The DR procured 200 locomotives from 1976 to 1985. The locomotive drive was, however, plagued by shortcomings and problems from the start. In its early days, 50% of the locomotives were in the workshops at any one time.

Literature

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External links

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The Class 219/229 in numbers, facts and pictures

The BR 119 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn

DR Class 119 from Romania
{{German diesel locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1976 Diesel locomotives of Germany

119 119 may refer to: * 119 (number), a natural number * 119 (emergency telephone number) * AD 119, a year in the 2nd century AD * 119 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 119 (album), 2012 * 119 (NCT song) *119 (Show Me the Money song) * 119 (film), a ...

DR 119 FAUR locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Germany Mixed traffic locomotives