Steam locomotive for war
Do you think that General Frost stopped the Wehrmacht near Moscow?
But not only him!
At least in the notes of the commander of the Army Group "Center" von Bock there is an entry dated 7.12.1941/XNUMX/XNUMX:
“... Paralysis of the railways. Lack of vehicles, wagons, locomotives and trained personnel. Insufficient adaptability of locomotives and motor vehicles to the conditions of the Russian winter ... "
Well, everything is clear with winter, but where did it come from? a lack of?
On August 10, 1941, Germany had 23 steam locomotives, the USSR - 400. Almost parity.
But, if you believe the documents of the Nuremberg trials, then: “... they destroyed, damaged and took away 15 steam locomotives and motor locomotives, as well as 800 wagons” ... (Document of the USSR - 428).
Here, however, it is necessary to clarify.
These 15,8 thousand included everything that could move (locomotives, narrow-gauge locomotives, motorized tires, and so on). Many of them did not even try to evacuate.
According to a study by historians of the NKPS, from the summer of 1941 to the first quarter of 1943, about 3 locomotives were lost. And they captured, according to the German historian of railway transport Reinhard, about 900 steam locomotives.
In general, not so much to establish uninterrupted transport links in the occupied territories.
And if we add to this a motley fleet of inherited locomotives, different gauges and the partisan movement that began already in the fall of 1941 ...
A total loss.
The Germans tried to increase the power of their steam locomotives by 14%, but this only led to the imminent failure of the latter. You can drive not only horses.
At the end of 1941, the length of railway lines, including the occupied territories, reached its maximum for Germany, and already in December, at a meeting, Adolf Hitler directly stated the need to create a military steam locomotive:
“... No miracles of technology! Simple machines are required that can withstand five years of operation!”
In March, the production of locomotives was placed under the control of Minister of Armaments Albert Speer.
A Main Rolling Stock Committee was also created.
The first thing that was adopted was a reduction in the range of steam locomotives. Only three series were left: 44, 50 and 86. Heavy, medium and shunting locomotives.
At the request of the military, the new locomotive was supposed to move a train weighing 1 tons at a speed of 200 km / h.
Given the not the best state of communications during the hostilities, the choice was made on the pre-war BR 50 series with an axial formula 1-5-0.
I bring an image.
This locomotive was created in 1939 and is considered very successful.
The first cars came out of the gates of the Henschel factory. Later, Krupp and Krauss Maffei joined in. Until the end of the year, 218 cars were assembled. Then they began to produce at other enterprises.
What was the military principle of Krigslok?
This is how a military steam locomotive is most often called in German literature.
First of all, simplification.
The water heater, large smoke shields, and second sandboxes for supplying sand to the wheel-rail contact zone during locomotive boxing were removed from the original prototype.
Of the 6 parts, about 000 were removed, and 1 were modernized. This led to a decrease in the total consumption of materials by 000 tons, including the consumption of non-ferrous metals decreased from 3 tons to 000 kg!
These measures allowed to reduce labor costs in time by half.
On September 12, 1942, the first military steam locomotive left the gates of the Borsig plant and made a test run of over 5 km through Germany and the occupied countries for propaganda purposes.
Soon, other steam locomotive enterprises, including some factories in Austria, France, the Czech Republic and Poland, joined the production of these locomotives. And even shipyards made boilers for these machines.
From 1942 to May 8, 1945, 6 steam locomotives of the 161nd series were produced.
In addition to simplifications, some technical innovations should be noted in locomotives.
Some of the locomotives were equipped with a special wheel mounting design, which made it possible to quickly change the gauge. Well, you understand which country was meant.
1 machines were supplied with the so-called "protection against cold" - boilers, cylinders, part of pumps and pipelines were insulated with glass wool and covered with protective covers.
The locomotive and tender were connected by Norwegian-type canvas furs, and steam heating coils were laid under the floor and seats.
On the front sheet there was a box for ... heating food. Even so.
Later narrow smoke detectors were returned to Witte. Three different species are mentioned.
Military locomotives were painted grey. Those who were photographed in black and white photos for propaganda purposes - in light blue.
In the occupied territories of the USSR, steam locomotives of the 52nd series entered five imperial transport directorates and four military field teams. On the locomotives serving the eastern front, an inscription under the stencil DR-Ost (from German “railway East”) was applied.
The brigades consisted of a driver and a stoker, but the mechanic was always a German.
Estimated fuel for the 52nd series is high-calorie coal from Germany or Silesia. This was due to the small volume of the furnace - 6,9 cubic meters. True, the realities made their own adjustments - they had to be mixed with Donetsk, but at the same time, the thrust dropped significantly.
These machines, apparently, were valued - they entered the line most often during the day, at a speed of 30-60 km / h with trains of no more than 1 tons.
In 1943, 53 locomotives of the 52nd series were sold to Turkey.
In the same year, our railroad workers also met them.
But already as with trophies. The locomotives were well received. Later they were given the designation "Te" (trophy type "E"). The machinists called them "Teshka" or "Frau".
After the end of the war, about 4 type 000 steam locomotives ended up in the territories of 52 countries. Most of them are on the routes of the USSR and Poland.
At the Ivano-Frankivsk Locomotive Repair Plant, 36 locomotives were assembled from parts of damaged machines. "Teshki" worked in the west of the USSR until the mid-70s.
And the heirs of the 52nd series served the GDR for the longest time. The factories of East Germany carried out modernization and improvement of these hard workers, but in the mid-80s, by a single order, they were all put into reserve and mothballed. The figure of 120 locomotives is mentioned.
Now military locomotives can be seen in some museums and on the pedestals of monuments - however, there are only five of them.
There are military vehicles, planes, ships... And there was also a military locomotive.
Brief TTX:
The mass of the locomotive is 86 tons.
Power - 1 l / s.
Design speed - 80 km / h.
Operational - 65 km / h.
Information