DRB Class 52

The Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 52^{[note 1]} is a German steam locomotive built in large numbers during the Second World War. It was the most produced type of the so-called Kriegslokomotiven or Kriegsloks (war locomotives). The Class 52 was a wartime development of the pre-war DRG Class 50, using fewer parts and less expensive materials to speed production. They were designed by Richard Wagner who was Chief Engineer of the Central Design Office at the Locomotive Standards Bureau of the DRG. About a dozen classes of locomotive were referred to as Kriegslokomotiven; however, the three main classes were the Class 52, 50 and 42. They were numbered 52 1-52 7794. A total of 20 are preserved in Germany.

DRB Class 52
52 4867 of the HEF in Frankfurt am Main
Type and origin Builder see Text Build date 1942–c. 1950 Total produced 7,794
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-10-0  • German G 56.15 Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge 1,524 mm (5 ft) Russian Railways Leading dia. 850 mm (33.46 in) Driver dia. 1,400 mm (55.12 in) Wheelbase: ​  • Overall 9.2 m (30 ft 2+1⁄4 in) Length: ​  • Over beams 22.975 m (75 ft 4+1⁄2 in) 27.532 m (90 ft 3+7⁄8 in) (with condensing tender) Adhesive weight 75.9 t (74.7 long tons; 83.7 short tons) Service weight 84 t (83 long tons; 93 short tons) Tender weight 18.7 t (18.4 long tons; 20.6 short tons) Total weight 102.7 t (101.1 long tons; 113.2 short tons) Fuel capacity 10 t (9.8 long tons; 11 short tons) coal Water cap. 27,000 L (5,900 imp gal; 7,100 US gal) 30,000 L (6,600 imp gal; 7,900 US gal) when using an ÖBB covered tender Boiler pressure 16 bar (1.6 MPa; 230 psi) Heating surface: ​  • Firebox 3.89 m^2 (41.9 sq ft)  • Evaporative 177.83 m^2 (1,914.1 sq ft) Cylinders 2 Cylinder size 600 mm (23.62 in) Piston stroke 660 mm (25.98 in) Train heating Steam
Performance figures Maximum speed 80 km/h (50 mph) Indicated power 1,192 kW (1,598 hp)
Career Numbers DRB: 52 001…52 7794 (Germany) JZ: 33 001–33 341, 33 501-33 505 (Yugoslavia) BSR: 1501-1650 (Bulgaria) Retired BSR: 1969-1975 (Bulgaria) ČSD: 1976 (Czechoslovakia) DB: 1962 DR: 1988 ÖBB: 1976 JZ: 1988-1992
Many preserved

Many locomotives passed into Russian ownership after the Second World War. In the USSR, the class were designated TE (TЭ). Other operators of the type included Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Norway and Turkey, among others.

Design

The Class 52 was a simplified version of the prewar Reichsbahn class 50 locomotive (produced 1938–1942). The simplified design of the class 52 was intended to reduce the man-hours and skills needed to manufacture it and to adapt to wartime shortages of strategic materials. Additional design changes gave the locomotives and their crew better protection against the cold.^[1] Between 1942 and the end of the war in May 1945, over 6,300 Class 52 locomotives were built. Additional locomotives were built post-war, giving a class total of probably 6719 units, delivered by seventeen manufacturers. The Class 42 was a larger version of the Class 52, but was produced in smaller numbers.

Wagner had wanted locomotives which were long-lasting and easy to maintain, and unlike British engineers did not consider a high power-to-weight ratio a priority. The resulting Kriegslokomotive had a low axleload of 15 tonnes (14.8 long tons; 16.5 short tons) and could haul 40 percent more freight than the old Prussian locomotives they replaced. The Class 52 could haul 1,200 tonnes (1,180 long tons; 1,320 short tons) at 65 km/h (40 mph) without significant strain. On a 3% grade they could haul 800 tons at 5 km/h.

Manufacture

Over 7,794 locomotives of DRB Class 52 type were built across Europe for use on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Thus it was one of the most numerous steam locomotives in the world. To achieve such numbers, the German locomotive manufacturers were merged into the 'Community of Greater German Locomotive Manufacturers', Gemeinschaft Grossdeutscher Lokomotivhersteller (GGL), which was a subdivision of the 'Rail Vehicles Main Committee', Hauptausschuss Schienenfahrzeuge (HAS) founded in 1942. Key HAS figures were the Reichsminister for munition and armament, Albert Speer and the Reich transport minister, Julius Dorpmüller.

Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 Nazi Germany disbanded the Polish State Railways (PKP). Polish rail officials were either executed in mass shootings or imprisoned, and some 8,000 managerial positions were staffed with German officials.^[2] Former Polish companies began producing German engines BR44, BR50 and BR86 as early as 1940, some using forced labor. By 1944, the factories in Poznań and Chrzanów were producing the redesigned Kriegslok BR52 locomotives for the Eastern Front. These locomotives were made almost entirely of steel; locomotives in that battlespace were not expected to survive for long, so managers eliminated the use of higher-value non-ferrous metals like bronze, chrome, copper, brass, and nickel.^[2]

The GGL included the following locomotive manufacturers (including an approximate number of Class 52s produced):

1. LOFAG, Vienna: 1,053 units
2. Henschel, Kassel (Henschel Flugzeugwerke AG): 1,050 units (forced labor)^[3]
3. Schwartzkopff, Berlin: 647 units
4. Krauss-Maffei, Munich: 613 units
5. Borsig, Berlin; branches: Borsig-Rheinmetall AG Düsseldorf (in Siemianowice, Poland), Borsig Lokomotivwerke Hennigsdorf, Borsig Werke Breslau-Hundsfeld (now Wrocław-Psie Pole, Poland): 542 units (forced labor, incl. KL Auschwitz)^[3]
6. Schichau-Werke Elbing (now Elbląg, Poland): 505 units (forced labor, incl. KZ Stutthof,^[4] and its subcamps).^[5]
7. Maschinenbau und Bahnbedarfs AG (MBA) formerly Orenstein & Koppel, Babelsberg: 400 units
8. DWM Posen, Poznań (occupied Poland), German takeover of Polish manufacturer H. Cegielski – Poznań: 314 units (forced labor)^[1]
9. Oberschlesische Lokfabrik Krenau, Chrzanów (occupied Poland), German takeover of Polish manufacturer Fablok: 264 units (forced labor)^[1]
10. Maschinenfabrik Esslingen: 250 units
11. Jung, Jungenthal, Kirchen: 231 units
12. Škoda Works, Pilsen: 153 units
13. Grafenstaden, Strasbourg: 139 units

Post-war use

In the early postwar years, Class 52s were used by many European countries. Western European countries replaced them with more modern locomotives as soon as possible, with the exception of Austria where they were used until 1976. The simplicity and effectiveness, plus the large production total, meant that many eastern European countries were slow to withdraw their Kriegslokomotiven. Poland used them into the 1990s; some in Bosnia continued in use until at least the late 2010s.

• Belgium, SNCB Type 26 - 100 locomotives originally ordered by the DRG during the occupation but not completed until after liberation.
• Bosnia - some still in industrial service transporting brown coal from the Kreka mine in Bosnia as of 2023.
• Bulgaria, Bulgarian State Railways class 15 - over 150 locomotives numbered 15.01-1650 .
• Czechoslovakia, ČSD class 555.0 - Some rebuilt as Class 555.3 to burn mazut fuel oil, a large surplus of which was generated in synthetic fuel plants in occupied Czechoslovakia from brown coal. The 555.3 differed visibly by having a lid on the smokestack to slow down cooling of the lining of the flue passage, to prevent cracking.
• East Germany - around 800 locomotives. 200 rebuilt as DR Class 52.80'.
• Hungary, MÁV class 520 - 100 locomotives acquired from the Soviet Union in 1963 and used into the 1980s.
• Norway, NSB class 63 - 74 locomotives sent during the German occupation and seized post-war. Nicknamed Stortysker ("big German"). One engine, restored by the Norwegian Railway Club, is preserved at the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar.
• Poland, PKP class Ty2 – 1,200 locomotives after the end of the war, a further 200 acquired from the Soviet Union in 1962–64. Began to be phased out in the 1980s; its last regular use was in 1999.
• Romania, Romanian State Railways class 150.1000 - about 100 locomotives.
• Soviet Union, Class TE (Russian: ТЭ, from Trophy, equivalent to E-class) - over 2,100 locomotives captured or seized.
• Turkey, TCDD class 56501 – 10 locomotives purchased from Germany in 1943, a further 43 loaned from Germany in 1943-44, which were permamently seized when Turkey declared war on Germany.
• Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Railways JŽ 33^[6]

Gallery

Several Class 52s have been preserved in operating condition. One is at the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, England. Another one is in service with the Franconian Museum Railway in Bavaria, Germany.

•  
  DB 52 4867 at the Eisenbahnmuseum Kranichstein (2005)
•  
  DB 52 4867 of the Historische Eisenbahn Frankfurt (2004)
•  
  Soviet TЭ-5200 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2003)
•  
  Austrian (ÖBB) 52 6084 (1971)
•  
  Austrian (ÖBB) 52 class rebuilt with tender cab, Giesl ejector, Graz (1971)
•  
  Soviet ТЭ-6769 (ex-Class 52) preserved at St. Petersburg (2007)
•  
  52 class as running after the War on PKP as class Ty2 (August 1976)
•  
  Reconstructed DR 52 8177-9 in Dresden (2003).
•  
  Reconstructed DR 52 8109-2 in Weimar (2003)
•  
  The most up to date class 52, 52 8055 completely rebuilt, Hauenstein
•  
  Steam locomotive 52.855 in the Railway Museum Sigmundsherberg, Lower Austria
•  
  Czechoslovak (ČSD) 555.0 class in Hanušovice (2021)

Notes

1. Wartime locomotives classes are prefixed DRB (Deutsche Reichsbahn) to distinguish them from those introduced by the DRG (prefixed DRG), which became defunct in 1937, and those introduced later by the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn (prefixed DR).

See also

• The Museum of the Moscow Railway, at Paveletsky Rail Terminal, Moscow
• Rizhsky Rail Terminal, Moscow, Home of the Moscow Railway Museum
• History of rail transport in Russia
• List of railway museums (worldwide)
• Russian Railway Museum, Saint Petersburg

References

1. Michał Kubara; Beata Mamcarczyk; Marcin Paździora; Sandra Schab (2012). "Sosnowiec". (PDF). Zagłębiowska Oficyna Wydawnicza Publishing. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-83-928381-1-1. Archived from the original (PDF file, direct download 9.97 MB) on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
2. Jerzy Wasilewski (2014). "25 września. Wcielenie kolei polskich na Śląsku, w Wielkopolsce i na Pomorzu do niemieckich kolei państwowych Deutsche Reichsbahn (Takeover of Polish Railways in Silesia, Greater Poland and Pomerania)". Polskie Koleje Państwowe PKP. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014 – via Archive.is.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
3. Eliah Meyer (July 1949). "List of german firms that used prisoners from concentration camps for slave labor". Catalogue of Camps and Prisons in Germany and the German-Occupied Territories. The International Tracing Service, ITS. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
4. Geoffrey P. Megargee, USHMM (2009). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum encyclopedia of camps and ghettos, 1933-1945. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253354297. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
5. J. Więsyk (2015). . Virtual Shtetl. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
6. , www.stacion.hr (in Croatian), archived from the original on 2009-12-26, retrieved 2012-03-19

Literature

• Hütter, Ingo (2012). Die Dampflokomotiven der Baureihen 50 bis 53 der DRG, DRB, DB, und DR (in German). Werl: DGEG Medien. pp. 158–393, 395–409. ISBN 978-3-937189-63-5.
• Peter Slaughter; Alexander Vassiliev; Roland Beier (1996). The German Class 52 Kriegslok (in English and German). Frank Stenvalls Förlag. ISBN 91-7266-140-2.
• Weisbrod, Manfred; Müller, Hans; Petznik, Wolfgang (1978). Dampflokomotiven deutscher Eisenbahnen, Baureihe 41–59 (EFA 1.2) (in German) (3rd ed.). Düsseldorf: Alba. pp. 63–71. ISBN 3-87094-082-4.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to DRB Class 52.

• The German Class 52 Locomotive
• DRB 52 8134 under way, winter 2012.