Hitler's kriegslok

David Benton wrote:I know what you mean, john , I still cut firewood and drag it up out of the riverbed by hand, despite my partner saying why not buy a truckload for a couple of hundred dollars. I'm just trying to justify buying a digger i think .
Saves going to the gym too.

Firewood is fine, as it does not add to the atmosphere's CO2 content, all the carbon being derived from circulating carbon absorbed from the atmosphere - though excess burning would reduce tree cover. But carbon content of the atmosphere is the main influence on climate change. I can foresee a necessary curb on oil burning.

John, the "thin grey haze above the chimney" that you mention was known in the US as a "company stack" [chimney] because that's what the accountants liked to see. Was (and is) there a similar expression in the Commonwealth?

johnthefireman wrote: It's the photographers who demand black smoke.

Can you make this much black smoke, John? The Southern Pacific ran a lot of oil burners. The cab forward design was to give the engine crew a break in tunnels and long snow sheds they ran through. Photo from Peter Hoffman in Railroad Memories.
"Company stack," new term for me.

If I were to make that much black smoke I think I ought to hang up my shovel and call it a day!

A Br42 pulling an excursion train in scenic Deutschland. Luxembourg to Koblenz. Auf, auf!, (what ever that means.)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HVwEoZPXjw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What type locomotives pulled Hitler's "sonderzug" or train "Amerika" (later Brandenburg)? Any of that type still exist?

Was pulled by pretty much anything available - the train was just a mobile headquarter that was moved to wherever a temporary HQ was deemed required. Used types were whatever could pull the train there, there were no locomotives specifically assigned to the train. Known steam locomotives used included P8, BR 57, BR 58, BR 50, and Class 01, electric engines E44, E18 and E16. A number of Class 01 steam locos and E44 electric locos were stationed near where the train was usually parked and were hence used the most within Germany. In the east in particular lighter locos were preferred, in East Prussia and around Wolfsschanze commonly BR 50.

There is a single operational original Class 01 in existence plus four or five cobbled together using original materials (with new boilers etc). The last of them ran in regular service in the late 50s.

E44 electric locos were used by DB and DR until the late 70s. Offhand no E44 survive in operational original state, the last one lost its technical license in the mid-90s. There's somewhere around a dozen in various museums and a few groups trying to get some running again.

I would have thought they would be reluctant to rely on a electric loco, with the electrical infrastructure easy to sabotage/ attack.

kato wrote:Was pulled by pretty much anything available -.

More specifically, saw some photos of two streamlined steam locos (in tandem at front) assigned to the Fuehrersonderzug. What class were those? any still exist with/without the shrouding?

CarterB wrote: More specifically, saw some photos of two streamlined steam locos (in tandem at front) assigned to the Fuehrersonderzug. What class were those? any still exist with/without the shrouding?

Those were BR 01.10 with attached streamlining shroud, only used in a single ride for propaganda reasons returning after the Battle of France.

The entire BR 01.10 series (55 built out of 204 ordered and 400 planned) was retired in June 1945 due to the boilers being built out of completely unsuitable steel that was beginning to fail at that point after only 500,000 km and the streamlining shroud on most units being partially missing. 54 were reactivated in 1949 in a reconstruction programme which saw the shroud entirely removed and the boilers replaced around 1953. 33 were rebuilt to oil-firing steam boilers, at which point the BR 01.10 class was split into class 011 and 012. The last of them were retired in 1975.

There is a single BR 01.10 with a replica of the streamlining shroud (01 1102). Suffered an accident in 2004 though and its current whereabouts are rather nebulous. Nine further BR 01.10 without streamlining shroud are in museums, including a running one in the Netherlands.

David Benton wrote:I would have thought they would be reluctant to rely on a electric loco, with the electrical infrastructure easy to sabotage/ attack.

Oddly enough the electrical infrastructure wasn't a problem until ca January 1945 when the Allies began tactical bombardment runs. During the war around 600 electric locomotives - beyond only local networks - were active, which of course pales against the number of steam engines in service at the time (around 7000 BR52, 3500 BR44, 1800 BR42, 1800 BR50, 1000 older models).