The Übergangskriegslokomotiven (literally: provisional war locomotives) were austere versions of standard locomotives ('' Einheitslokomotiven'') built by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in order to accelerate their production. They are often just called 'ÜK' locomotives. In the Second World War the requirement for motive power, especially goods train locomotives, rose sharply. To cope with the demand the standard locomotive classes 44, 50 and 86 were built, after 1941, to a simpler, more austere design and given the designation (ÜK) after the class number. Characteristic of ÜK locomotives are e.g. disc wheels on the

carrying axles Carry or carrying may refer to: People *Carry (name) Finance * Carried interest (or carry), the share of profits in an investment fund paid to the fund manager * Carry (investment), a financial term: the carry of an asset is the gain or cost of h ...

and the omission of the front side windows in the driver's cabs. Even preheaters, feed pumps, ''Frontschürzen'',

smoke deflectors Smoke deflectors, sometimes called "blinkers" in the UK because of their strong resemblance to the Blinkers (horse tack), blinkers used on horses, and "elephant ears" in US railway slang, are vertical plates attached to each side of the smok ...

and other equipment not essential for the operation of the locomotives were sometimes left out. The ÜK classes proved however to be just an interim step. As early as 1941 the requirement for a further, more radical simplification of locomotive construction became ever more pressing. As a result, genuine war locomotives (the ''

Kriegslokomotive ''Kriegslokomotiven'' (, singular: ''Kriegslokomotive'') or ''Kriegsloks'' were locomotives produced in large numbers during the Second World War under Nazi Germany. Their construction was tailored to the economic circumstances of wartime Germa ...

n'') were developed 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 Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

. They were sub-divided into wartime steam locomotives (''Kriegs-Dampf-Lokomotiven or KDL'') and wartime electric locomotives (''Kriegs-Elektrolokomotiven or KEL''). Examples include the steam classes 42 and 52, as well as the Class E 44 and E 94.

See also