| German Federal Railroad (DB) class 94.5-17 (former Prussian T16.1) steam tank locomotive, with bell and pre-warmer on the top of the boiler, with radio antenna for switching, older design buffers, and buffer plate warning stripes. Road number 94 539. The locomotive looks as it did around 1960/61.
Source: www.maerklin.de
Next to the largely famous P 8 (class 38.10) passenger locomotive, the Royal Prussian State Railroad also landed a big success at the beginning of the 20th century with the class T 16 and T 16.1 heavy tank locomotives. Between 1906 and 1924, a proud 1,591 units of this locomotive type with five driving axles were placed in service. With a maximum speed of 60 km/h / 38 mph and an output of over 1,000 horsepower, the class T 16.1 was especially ideal motive power for branch lines with steep grades and for work in large switching yards. Road number 94 539 left its builder, the Wildau-Berlin Machinery Company, Inc. (formerly L. Schwartzkopff) in 1913 as one of the first units of the improved class T 16.1. This locomotive was initially based in Kassel and in 1925 it was given road number 94 539 in the German State Railroads numbering plan. Later, this unit was transferred to the Stuttgart District to Heilbronn, which used it – equipped with counter-pressure brakes – among other things on the Koch Valley Line Waldenburg – Künzelsau – Forchtenberg. There, it was overtaken by a sad fate on September 13, 1944. During an attack from low-flying airplanes, the locomotive received a direct hit destroying the boiler. After that, it was repaired again and turned up – without counter-pressure brakes – in 1949 at Offenburg. From then on, road number 94 539 served as an industrious switch engine in the switchyards at Offenburg and Mannheim. In the late Fifties, it was even given switching radio communication. Its last years of service were spent at Mannheim. The DB renumbering plan of 1968 even planned the computer-generated road number 094 539-4 for this old-timer of 55 years. This proud class 94.5 however did not experience this modern era. It was retired in advance. The use of the class 94.5 at Mannheim ended in July of 1969, and about five years later, the last five units of the class T 16.1 on the DB left the roster. Moreover, at about the same time as the last locomotives of the class P 8 (38.10). |
