Revell BR 41

Revell's item no. 02160 is a beautiful H0 (1:87) scale model of the German BR 41 goods locomotive.

The real BR 41 has an interesting history. After 1930 the German Royal Railways Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) was looking for a new, fast goods locomotive. In 1934 the Berliner Machinenbau (BMAG, previously named Luis Schwartzkopff) submitted a design of a 2-8-2 (1'D) steam locomotive created by Friedrick Wilhelm Eckhardt. The design was accepted and BMAG was asked to produce two prototypes.

The two prototypes, BR 41 001 and BR 41 002 were delivered in 1937. DRG found that the locomotives were powerful, fast, quiet and that they accelerated very well, so in 1938 the newly renamed Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) ordered the massive production of such locomotives. They had to be built according to the locomotive standardization principle, so that they could be easily maintained and repaired. All the major German locomotive builders started producing the BR 41, including BMAG, Borsig, Henschel & Sohn, Krauss-Maffei, Krupp, Orenstein & Koppel, Machinenfabrik Esslingen, Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik, Schichau, etc.

Between 1938 and 1941 a total of 366 BR 41 steam locomotives wre constructed. They were not expensive. In order to achieve this, some modifications were applied to the original design. Like some of the other types of BR locomotives, they possessed 20-bar boliers made of St 47 K and some other aging steel, which soon started to present severe problems. So, from 1941, the operating boiler pressure was reduced to 16 bar, but even so, boiler damage could not be prevented.

Altough the axle load could be easily switched between 18t and 20t with the help of some bolts, they were always used with the 18t setting.

In 1941 the production of BR 41 locomotives was completely canceled because of the war. After WW II, 216 locomotives of this type remained in West Germany and 122 in East Germany, 22 in Poland, 1 in Czechoslovakia and 5 in Russia. Between 1957 and 1961 107 engines were repaired and modified, the most important change being the installation of a fully weldedboiler. 40 of them were converted to burning oil and from 1968 they were renamed to class 042.

Facts:

ID: BR 41 242

Wheel arrangement: 2-8-2

Built: 1937-1941

Builder: BMAG, Borsig, Henschel & Sohn, Krauss-Maffei, Krupp, Orenstein & Koppel, Machinenfabrik Esslingen, Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik, Schichau

Top speed: 90 km/h (50 km/h backward)

Power: 1397 kW

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Length: 23.905 m

Driving wheel diameter: 1600 mm

Leading wheen diameter: 1000 mm

Trailing wheel diamater: 1200 mm

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Class_41

http://www.revell.com

CFR 94.649 at Sibiu Steam Locomotive Museum

The locomotives of type Prussian T 16 (later called DR 94) were designed by the Prussian Royal Railways to pull trains on the curvy lines of Turingia. They were tender locomotives with 5 coupled axles. CFR 94.649 (originally named Magdeburg 8110) is part of a batch of 15 locomotives of this type that became property of CFR after World War II. They were captured by Russian troupes in 1949 in Austria and given to Romania as war compensation later. Al tough they were modern steam locomotives, they were assigned to industrial units because of the big weight on axles.

Shortly after their arrival into CFR's park of locomotives, 6 of them were scrapped in 1952. The rest of them were retired and scrapped between 1971 and 1972, except one, the CFR 94.649, which worked in marshalling operations at Grivita until 1988. It was transfered to the Sibiu steam locomotive museum in 1994 and it's exhibited there ever since.

Facts:

ID: CFR 94.649

Wheel arrangement: 0-10-0T

Built: 1914

Builder: BMAG - Schwartzkopff (Berlin)

Top speed: 65 km/h

Gauge: Standard (1435 mm)

Location: Sibiu, Romania (steam locomotive museum)

Obviously not used anymore, the locomotive is exhibited in a nice place at the steam locomotive museum in Sibiu, Romania. It is the sole survivor of its type among CFR's locomotives.

Links:

CFR 94.649 at www.steamlocomotive.info

CFR 94.649 at www.infofer.ro