1940's German loco construction

[Fred_V]

Very rare footage of what the other side was doing.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c0d_1454852782

[Greg_Lewis]

Some difficult shots to get at the end. Regardless of the country, I am always amazed at early 20th century heavy industry.

[hwboivin3]

One of the best locomotives ever built.....in my opinion. Over 7000 were made.

Thank you very much for that link!

[Asteamhead]

Thanks for that link! The movie made for propaganda purpose in 1944 still is a document of heavy industries at that time.

Class 52 had been reconstructed in 1942 during WW 2 on the base of more civil class 50 of the 30s. Both were light decapods of about 1.500 hp. Welded fireboxes and tenders were pretty new that time. They were built to last just six years without heavy repairs.
Instead many of them were used successfully after WW 2 by several European RRs well into the 60s and 70s. Some hundred remained in Russia and were changed to broad gauge of 1524 mm! Decades later these were sold to Poland and Eastern Germany. Retrofiting back to standard gauge just meant to press back the wheels and remove the steel plates placed between frame and cylinders.
Several engines are still running on Museum RRs due to their reliabilty, versality and low maintenance cost.
Maybe not 'the best of all locomotives ever' but a simple and very useful construction for sure.
Asteamhead

[kvom]

I noticed a couple of women machinists in the film. The 'Rosie the Riveter' meme was common during WWII here in the US, but I wasn't aware that Germany had drafted its women into industry.

[Bill Shields]

I recently saw one in a minor state of disassembly in Bavaria

[Loco112]

I noticed a couple of women machinists in the film. The 'Rosie the Riveter' meme was common during WWII here in the US, but I wasn't aware that Germany had drafted its women into industry.

Germany had to get every able body, of either gender, into the workforce after all their men were sacrificed.

[super7b]

I arranged a holiday to Germany recently so that I could visit the works at Meinigen in what was the old East Germany, which are open to the public on the first Saturday of the month. There was a Class 52 there that was built in a 1943. The works is a veritable treasure trove of locos from all over Europe and from the southern hemisphere. The works is the result of a total lack of investment by the communist authorities that has left a fully equipped and staffed railway works, almost from the time of the film. On the day of my visit I counted 74 locos being worked on/repaired/ rebuilt and even new builds. Of interest, bearing in mind that as someone has already said that there were over 7000 class 52s, each with 12 wheels and another 8 on the tender, a lot of wheels will need to be turned. A picture shows a 1942 built wheel lathe weighing 72 tons that has just been overhauled and had full CNC fitted, so great is the demand for it's service. This is a now a private business and is working to capacity, only 225 full time staff a lot less than the 10,000 or so in the boom times.

[DanSmo]

Great find, thanks for sharing!

How times have changed!?! Now everyone would be in hi-vis, safety glasses, hard hats, ear muffs, gloves. Safe work method statements would need to be filled out along with site inductions, hot work permits, confined spaces permits, risk assessments and you would barely be able to see what you're doing for all the safety signs, machine guards, handrails and barriers. Next thing, we will be needing need a university degree to swing a hammer...

[Bill Shields]

do they also to boiler work?

I forget where Tornado's boiler was built..might have been here.

Wheel lathes in the USA are also very busy..last time I spoke to someone at Strasburg theirs was taking work from all sorts of places east of the Mississippi.

[super7b]

Yes, Tornado's boiler was built there and has been back for a few minor repairs to stays around the firebox foundation ring.
Also under construction during my visit was a new build for an Australian loco. There is lots on the internet about what has gone wrong with the build. Apparently it won't fit in the loco frames and other queries ie not built to the Australian code, all a bit mysterious when both sides have inspectors, anyway not my problem!
There are several new build loco projects ongoing in the UK, building locos that should have been preserved, so the boiler works will no doubt be asked to quote again.

L

[hudson]

Dampflokwerke Meiningen built the boiler
for Tornado.

see: http://www.dampflokwerk.de/geschichte.htm

(German)

Hudson