The steam locomotive BR 17.0 of the DRG has a moving history as a former Prussian S 10 and now as a museum locomotive of the Museum of Transport and Technology in Berlin.
The TRIX model comes with prototypical lettering and design as 17 008 in Era II operating condition around 1932.
In this article you will get a little insight into the prehistory of the impressive prototype and the most important information about the exclusive H0 model from TRIX.
Information about the prototype
A major shortcoming of the Prussian State Railways at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century was the procurement policy for steam locomotives, which actually always lagged behind the actual requirements. The primary reason for this was the extremely "thrifty" Prussian locomotive procurement officer, Geheime Baurat Robert Garbe, who, among other things, continued to regard double-coupled express locomotives as the measure of all things long after other German state railroads had switched to triple-coupled locomotives. The Prussian S 6 (2'B-h2, later DRG class 13.10) that he designed and that entered service in 1906 was also well suited for light express service on the flat country lines of the Prussian State Railways thanks to its large 2,100 mm diameter driving wheels, but that was actually all positive.
At first, the low frictional weight of the S 6 frequently caused starting problems in front of heavy express trains, which, according to contemporary witnesses, "gradually developed into an operational nuisance. The series also proved to be no longer really suitable for operation in hilly and mountainous areas. As a result, the Cassel, Elberfeld, Frankfurt and Erfurt railroad directorates in particular were increasingly demanding a new triple-coupled express locomotive for their many main lines with longer gradient sections. Garbe, on the other hand, initially favored its P 8 (2'C-h2, later DRG class 38.10), built from 1906 onwards, as an express locomotive, even though its driving wheel diameter of only 1,750 mm with unsteady running in the upper speed range from 80 km/h was actually not at all suitable for fast trains. Furthermore, the first design of the P 8 had a whole series of stubborn teething problems before it underwent a thorough revision in 1913.
Ultimately, however, Garbe had to comply with the Ministry's directives and tackle the design of a triple-coupled express locomotive. Initially, Garbe planned to solve the problem according to his wishes by simply enlarging his P 8 in the driving wheels (to 1,980 mm in diameter) and in the boiler and heating surface. Contrary to Garbe's ideas, the Ministry was not at all enthusiastic about a two-cylinder locomotive. On the other hand, a superheated steam compound locomotive was out of the question for Garbe, knowing full well that other railroad administrations had had excellent experience with it. As a compromise, a 2'C hot steam locomotive with four cylinders without compound action was finally agreed upon, which was not the last word in wisdom from a technical point of view.
Letztendlich erhielt dann 1909 die Berliner Maschinenbau AG (BMAG, vormals Louis Schwartzkopff) den Auftrag für zwei Probeloks der neuen, zunächst als S 8 bezeichneten 2’Ch4-Schnellzuglok. Die Vorausloks Die BMAG lieferte im Frühjahr 1910 die ersten beiden Maschinen (Fabrik-Nr. 4455 und 4456), die dann zunächst als S 8 801 und 802 der Eisenbahndirektion Erfurt zugeteilt wurden. Ähnlichkeiten mit der P 8 waren immer noch unverkennbar. Zur angeblich besseren Zugänglichkeit der Triebwerksbauteile blieb man beim Rahmen der teils genieteten und teils geschraubten Plattenbauweise treu. Den Kessel der P 8 übernahm man mit vergrößerter Feuerbüchse und vergrößertem Stehkessel sowie einem verlängerten Langkessel. Damit konnte die Verdampfungsheizfläche von 143 auf 154,3 m² angehoben werden. Die P 8 stiftete auch das große Führerhaus und fast könnte man meinen, dass auch der Umlauf hier seinen Ursprung besaß. Seine „niedrige“ Ausführung erforderte aber Radkästen über den beiden ersten Treib- und Kuppelradsätzen.
Soon after its delivery, the S 8 Erfurt 802 was presented to the astonished experts at the Brussels World's Fair on April 23, 1910. However, the Prussian "economy version" probably led a rather shadowy existence among the exhibited locomotives, because after all, Pacific compound express locomotives (2'C1') had already been running in Europe for three years. The stars of the exhibition were rather the Bavarian S 3/6 and three Pacifics of the French railroads. Before the end of the exhibition on December 7, the 802 returned home and made extensive test runs. In the meantime, the 801 had also been tested under normal operating conditions.
Two other redesignations are worthy of mention during this period:
The two machines then ran briefly as the S 10 Erfurt 951 and 952, then as the S 10 Erfurt 1001 and 1002. Overall, the two prototypes met expectations, although the insufficient boiler output and the extremely difficult access to the internal engines had a negative impact. In 1911, BMAG delivered the first batch of ten standard S 10s (S 10 Erfurt 1003, Breslau 1001-1004 and Mainz 1001-1005) with slight improvements. Here, the most serious complaints about poor accessibility to the internal engine had been eliminated, because the front part of the frame was already designed as a 100 mm thick ingot frame and the circulating plate was raised above the driving and coupling wheels. The front view had also changed, with a lower buffer beam and sloping skirt across the entire width. In contrast to the prototypes, the cylinder block with the four equally sized cylinders lying in one plane and their slide valve housings now consisted of two castings bolted together in the middle. On the two advance locomotives, three parts had still been required. All four cylinders acted on the first drive wheel set, which was designed as a crank axle and now had slanted crank arms instead of vertical inner crank blades. However, the inadequacies of the boiler discovered in operation led to a revision of the boiler design including the control system by Vulcan Stettiner Maschinenbau AG, which had already made a name for itself with fundamental development and improvement work on other types. The permissible boiler pressure was increased from 12 to 14 kg/cm², the grate area from 2.60 to 2.72 m² and the firebox heating area from 13.6 to 14.17 m². The evaporation heating area decreased only slightly (153.09 vs. 154.25 m²), but the superheater heating area increased from 53.00 to 61.50 m² due to a larger number of smoke tubes. Instead of the cylindrical chimney previously used in Prussia, a slightly tapered one of 420/480 mm diameter was now used.
Between 1912 and 1914, BMAG, Hanomag and Vulcan then delivered a total of 190 examples in the above design. Initially, the steam dome was located on the front boiler section and the round sand dome behind it. But they soon swapped places. While the first S 10s were initially still coupled to the P 8 tender of the 2'2'T21.5 design (5 t of coal), this was replaced as early as 1911 by the 2'2'T31.5 design, which held 7 t of coal and 31.5 m³ of water. This allowed the S 10 an operating radius of around 300 km without having to replenish its water and coal supplies. The Erfurt (47 ex.) and Münster (49) railroad directorates developed into strongholds of the S 10, with the second half distributed among the Breslau (10 ex.), Cassel (10), Cologne (4), Elberfeld (13), Essen (17), Halle (11), Katowice (10), Magdeburg (4), Mainz (13) and Saarbrücken (14) directorates.
The end of the First World War meant a major bloodletting for the locomotives, as a large number of the S 10s had to be handed over to the victorious powers as a result of the armistice agreement of November 11, 1918 and the territorial losses, particularly in the east. Thus, 31 locomotives remained in Poland (there then Pk1-1 to 31) and six in Lithuania (sold by France at the end of 1919, there as Gr10-1 to 6). Italy received one (also sold by France, there FS 676.001), but it was given to France in 1925 to AL (then AL 1162). Belgium secured 16 locomotives (as 6002-6013, 6033, 6040, 6041 and 6043) and France finally twelve S 10s. The latter ran from 1920/21 in the Alsace-Lorraine region with the newly founded "Administration des Chemins de Fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine" as AL 1150-1161.
Meanwhile, in the German Reich, the Reichseisenbahnen (from June 1921: Deutsche Reichsbahn, from August 1924: Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft - DRG) were founded. One of the major tasks now was to standardize the variety of different designation systems of the state railroads. Starting in September 1925, the remaining 134 S 10 locomotives were finally assigned the new numbers and ran from then on as the 17 001-041 and 043-135. From the mid-1920s, the 17.0's strongholds were the Reichsbahndirektionen (RBD) Cologne with about 30 locomotives, the RBD Mainz with a fluctuating stock of 15 to 30 locomotives, and the RBD Münster with about 30 to 50 locomotives. The two Rhine Valley lines were, of course, the predestined area of operation for the Cologne and Mainz S 10s for a number of years, but the surrounding areas were not left out either.
The machines of the Münster Directorate were used spectacularly on the Hamburg-Altona - Bremen - Osnabrück - Cologne runway and between Hanover - Osnabrück - Rheine - Dutch border. border. However, neglected maintenance during the war as well as years of overloading with corresponding consequences for the engine and cylinders did not allow the actually still "young" S 10s to grow old. In particular, the extremely sensitive crankshaft, which was made up of several parts, was a major weak point. On the other hand, the claim that the locomotives were taken out of service because of excessive fuel consumption can be relegated to the realm of fable. As early as 1926, the first five locomotives were ordered out of service, followed by another twelve in 1927. It wasn't until 1930 that two S 10s were hit again, but then things really took off: 1931: 28 units, 1932: 25 units, 1933: 22 units and 1934: 10 locomotives. The ranks of the remaining S 10s continued to slowly dwindle over the next few years. At the same time, some of the locomotives were temporarily used as brake locomotives with Riggenbach back-pressure brakes at the Grunewald Locomotive Experimental Office (LVA). As of December 31, 1940, the locomotive fleet still included the 17 039, 097, 102, 107, and 120.
After the end of World War II, probably no more S 10s entered service in Germany. In the western zones, the 17 039 and 102 were taken out of service on September 20, 1948. In the DR of the GDR, the 17 107 remained parked at the Rbd Berlin and was disposed of on February 15, 1951. After the end of the war, the 17 120 found itself with the Polish PKP, where it was reclassified as Pk1-24 and finally had to retire from service on February 28, 1952. The 17 097 came into Soviet possession as war booty, probably remained parked on the still Lithuanian standard gauge network and was withdrawn from service in February 1951. The 17 008 As the only surviving example of the class 17.0, the 17 008 can be seen today in the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin. The 17 008 was delivered on February 3, 1912 by BMAG (Berliner Maschinenbau AG, formerly Schwartzkopff) with the factory number 4760 to the Breslau head office as S 10 1008 Bsl. There, the locomotive and nine other examples mainly ran express trains in the direction of Upper Silesia. Around 1924/25, the locomotive, now designated as 17 008 in the future, came to the Mainz Directorate/RBD, where it served the Mainz Bw and was used primarily on the Rhine lines. But there, they were successively displaced by the Bavarian S 3/6 (BR 18.4-5) and so the 17 008 also arrived at the Bw Düsseldorf Abstellbahnhof in the RBD Wuppertal in the early summer of 1933. Respectable performances were no longer to be expected there, however; the daily bread offered rather only trips "around the steeple". Like many of her sisters, she soon became superfluous and was withdrawn from service in October 1934.
However, it was spared scrapping because the Brandenburg West RAW refurbished it as a demonstration locomotive. Its left side was cut open to better demonstrate the operation of a steam locomotive. Finally, on March 11 of the anniversary year 1935 (100 years of German railroads), she was given a place of honor in the Berlin Museum of Transportation and Construction in the former station of the Berlin-Hamburg Railroad, even on electrically driven rollers. After World War II, the museum was closed to the public for a long time due to the special state of the railroad system in West Berlin, because the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) of the GDR also ran rail operations in the western sectors of Berlin and denied outsiders any access to all track facilities, except of course the stations with their platforms. It was not until 1984, when the West Berlin Senate took over the S-Bahn, that the museum, which had been shut down, also became the property of the West. Some time later, the 17 008, awakened from its "Sleeping Beauty" slumber, was transported on a low-loader to Neukölln station and then pulled on its own wheels over the Ringbahn to Anhalter Güterbahnhof. Since October 1987, it has enriched the German Museum of Technology (until 1996, the Museum of Transport and Technology) on the grounds of the former Bw Berlin-Anhalterbahnhof, thereby also ready for demonstration on wheels.
Information about the model
The TRIX model is already equipped with a digital decoder ex works and convinces with extensive sound functions. In the boiler is a controlled high-performance drive with flywheel mass, which drives 3 axles. Traction tires provide optimum grip and the best running characteristics. The locomotive and the coal tender are largely made of metal. Even a smoke set is installed ex works.
The dual headlights that change over with the direction of travel and the smoke unit will work in conventional operation and can be controlled digitally. The cab lighting, fire flicker, and counter train signal are among the highlights of the model and can also each be controlled separately digitally. The lighting is done with maintenance-free warm white and red LEDs. The close coupler with kinematics is located between the locomotive and the tender, and the model has a close coupler with an NEM shaft at the rear of the tender.
The minimum radius that can be driven on is 360 mm and the length over the buffers is approx. 24.0 cm. The model comes with enclosed piston rod guards, a locomotive engineer figure and a stoker figure for later installation in the engineer's cab, and a booklet with extensive history of the locomotive.
Highlights
All the special features of the locomotive:
- Reworked tooling
- New propulsion concept
- Reworked locomotive and tender connection
- Open cab with an open view through it
- Cab lighting can be controlled digitally
- Oncoming train light can be controlled digitally
- Firebox flickering can be controlled digitally
- Built-in smoke unit
- Figures of an engineer and a fireman included
- Booklet about the history of the locomotive included
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