She arrived too late

She arrived too late

Shown for the first time in 2006 on the German fc-section,
here it is again, in a bigger solution:


Maybe the most prominent class of all engines built for Deutsche Bundesbahn after WW II, two class 10 Pacifics:

From 1950 on already their projecting wasn’t to the best advantage, and precious time was wasted before plans for the new express engine could come true - Mr. Friedrich Witte, one of the CME´s of the Minden developing and trial office very much preferred the very good proposal that Henschel had made, but for proportional election in the end Krupp got the order to build two Pacific engines, after plans had been changed from a Prairie design to a Pacific, including a lot of alterations consuming too much time.
Then also Krupp took too much time (and even less care) to build the engines, preferring to build new diesel and electric engines at the same time, very much to the annoyance of Witte and his crew at Minden.

So it was not until spring 1957 that the first class 10 engine left Krupp works for trial tests. More time was spent then to overcome a lot of bigger and minor teething troubles. One year later both engines were given to Bebra MPD to make use of them on heavy express trains between Hamburg and Nürnberg/Treuchtlingen/Ingolstadt, dependant on progress in electrification. After complete electrification of the busy north-south mainline up to Hannover and Hamburg, both engines were transferred to Kassel MPD in Oct, 1962 to serve on the traditionally heavy express trains between Kassel and Frankfurt, a flat 200 km, until 1966. The last small stronghold after electrification of the line to Frankfurt for both engines was a pair of regional express trains between Kassel and Münster - a result of the problem with their high axle load of almost 22 tons, too much for many lines, thus limiting their operational area to a few mainlines.

A book could easily be filled with stories about the pros and cons, the performance and troubles of the engines, that definitely were to come too late. DB headquarters decided not to invest any more time and money in improving the engines´ performance.

The sorry end of the class that weren’t much loved by engine men came soon, after 10 002 had suffered a damage of her driving gear, and in January 1968 a breaking valve spindle put 10 001 out of service.
After having served at last as stationary steamer at Ludwigshafen MPD, 10 002 was scrapped at Offenburg shops.

10 001 had a slightly better fate.

My image shows 10 001 at Bebra MPD on June 10th, 1971 where she was kept as moving exhibit before she finally was sold to the Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg German Steam engine’s museum.
Though not serviceable, there she is for her admiring enthusiasts.


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