The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft’s BR(Baureihe) 01 steam locomotives were the first standardized (Einheitsdampflokomotive) steam express passenger locomotives built by the German railway. The BR 01 10 was also a part of the standardized locomotives, but it was a 3-cylinder version of the BR 01. Both the BR 01 and BR 01 10 where used right up to the end of steam service in both West-Germany and East-Germany. In this article both Enrico and Simon Jakobi (Dr Snotson on Flickr) will take a look through the history and use of the BR 01 and BR 01 10 and show their models which represent these iconic locomotives.

DRG Class 01

The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft’s BR 01 steam locomotives were the first standardized (Einheitsdampflokomotive) steam express passenger locomotives. A total of 231 locomotives where built by German company’s across Germany. They were of 4-6-2 “Pacific” wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2′C1′ h2 in the UIC classification. The idea behind standardization is to reduce cost and make repairs easier and quicker.

The BR 01 is a 2-cylinder locomotive. As a test 10 locomotives where built with a 4-cylinder configuration, these where renumbered in BR 02. The 2-cylinder version was favored after long testing because it was easier to maintain running compared to the 4-cilinder version. The main batch of the BR 01 were delayed in the 1920’s. The reason behind this was that the infrastructure of the DB wasn’t ready for these locomotives. Turntables needed to be lengthened and railway lines needed to be strength to be able to support the 20-ton locomotives.

Since 1938 there were 231 BR 01 locomotives available for the prestigious express train duties across Germany. The 10 four-cylinder BR 02 locomotive version (01 111, 01 233–241) were converted to two-cylinder BR 01 models between 1937 and 1942. Since there were so many routes that still had axle load restrictions, which were too low for Class 01 service, in the early 1930s, a third variant was produced: the BR 03 designed with a two-cylinder engine and axle load of 18 ton. A total of 298 BR 03 locomotives where built. Launched in 1939, the three-cylinder DRG Class 01.10 was a further development of the 01.

In 12 years, a total of five series or batches were delivered, each with minor variations:

• 01 001–010 (1926)
• 01 112–076 (1927–28)
• 01 077–101 (1930–31)
• 01 102–190 (1934–1936)
• 01 191–232 (1937–1938).

Stats

Originally, the BR 01’s top speed was restricted to 120 km/h(75mph). In order to raise this to 130 km/h(81mph), the diameter of the leading wheels was increased from its original 850 mm to 1,000 mm on locomotives from operating number 01 102 onwards and brake effort was increased by installing double-sided working of the brake shoes on the coupled wheels and by braking the trailing wheels.  Each locomotive was able to produce a respectably 1,648 kW. The driving wheels where 2000mm (78.74 inch).

Tenders

The BR 01s were equipped with 2’2 T 30, 2’2′ T 32 or 2’2′ T 34 tenders. Their coal capacity was 10 tons of coal, and the water tank held either 30, 32 or 34 cubic meters of water. The prototype locomotives, 01 001 to 01 010, were supplied with the smaller 2’2 T 30 tenders, because there were not enough large turntables around. Later these tenders were only used if they were absolutely necessary, e.g. in cross-border services with the Netherlands. From the second series (01 012 et seq.) on, the Class 01 was furnished with rivetted 2’2′ T 32 tenders. The welded tenders, class 2’2′ T 34, appeared only by way of exchange (mainly from brand new Class 44) locomotives. Thereafter they were almost the only ones used during the war years and after the Second World War, because they had a larger water capacity.

Rebuilds:

Multiple locomotives where converted in their life spent. From a complete overhaul to a small parts change. Here 3 categories that stent out the most:

Henschel mixer preheater rebuilds

In 1950 and 1951, the Deutsche Bundesbahn converted locomotives 01 042, 01 046, 01 112, 01 154 and 01 192. They were enhanced with a Heinl mixer preheater by Henschel and a turbo feed pump. In addition, combustion chambers were installed in the boilers. This increased the power to 1,802 kW. Finally, the conversion was rounded off with the replacement of the original smoke deflectors by Witte deflectors, which in spite of their considerably smaller size were just as effective as their larger predecessors. Four of these five modified locomotives remained in service until 1968.

New DB boiler design rebuild

From 1957 until 1961 the Deutsche Bundesbahn rebuilt a further 50 vehicles. These engines were given welded, high-performance, steam boilers, which had already been used on the BR 01.10’s. In addition, a new mixer preheater system was installed in the smokebox and numerous friction bearings were replaced by roller bearings. Changes to the cylinder block, running board, a shorter chimney, front apron (Frontschürze) and locomotive frame, as well as the missing feedwater dome, all gave the locomotives a different external appearance. The power of these rebuilds where increased to 1,714 kW.

DR Reko locomotive 01.5

The Deutsche Reichsbahn (the East-Germany railway’s) rebuilt 35 BR 01 locomotives which were on their part of Germany after the split between East and West. All these locos were fitted with new Witte smoke deflectors with tapered edges, a new driver’s cab and a new boiler, positioned higher on the frame. The boiler had a combustion chamber, a mixer preheater and a continuous cover for the dome. All this gave these locomotives an entirely different look compared to there West-German versions.

The end of the legends

Class 01 locomotives remained in service with the Deutsche Bundesbahn until 1973. In West-Germany, they were still working up to the early 1980s, largely in their original state with large smoke deflectors. They were legendary in their last years for hauling the D-Zug services on the Berlin-Dresden route up to autumn 1977. Only when the large Soviet DR Class 132 diesel locomotives arrived, the Class 01 express train locomotives were finally forced out of scheduled services in East-Germany after almost 50 years.

Survivors:

The list of preserved BR 01 is quite impressive. All the locomotives mentioned bellow very in state and condition. Some are still in there rebuild version, how ever there a few preserved in the state they came out of the factory.

• 01 118
• 01 066
• 01 202
• 01 116
• 01 150
• 01 005
• 01 008
• 01 111
• 01 137
• 01 164
• 01 173
• 01 204
• 01 220
• 01 509 (ex 01 143)
• 01 514 (ex 01 208)
• 01 519 (ex 01 186)
• 01 531 (ex 01 158)

DB BR 01 „Blue Lady“ – SIMON JAKOBI

Inspiration

In late 2017 I met Julius Theißen a.k.a. “Dampfstein” on a meeting of LEGO Fans at our local LEGO-Store “Steinchenbrüder” in Hannover, Germany. Like me Julius was totally into 8 w LEGO train MOCs. On this evening he brought his excellent model of a German Baureihe 03 to the store. His solution concerning the golden boiler rings is outstanding. On both hands they are slim and round with a diameter close to the boiler, but brick built. On our first exhibition in early 2018 we decided to plan a team layout with turntable and roundhouse to showcase our MOCs. Up to then I had only designed electric and diesel engines.

But now I was wondering which DB steam prototype would reveal an interesting contrast to Julius` 03 on our future “Bahnbetriebswerk”. Deep down in my stuff in the basement of my parent`s house I found the first part of the answer – a 20 years old MINITRIX model (12617) of the German Baureihe 03 in a special dark blue livery with silver boiler rings. A few days later deep down in the dungeons of the WWW with the pictures of a KM1 model of the 01 1087 I found the second part of the answer: It seems that not only a few of the 03 were painted in steal blue, but also one Baureihe 01 received this elegant color scheme which gave these so called “blue ladies” a perfect match to the blue coaches of the “F-Zug-Netz” in those early days of the young DB.

Challenge

First of all, I don`t scale. That`s not my kind of approach to a locomotive. In the end all of my MOCs reflect a balance between form and functionality. Usually, I start to design several characteristic details of a prototype to get a first idea if I achieve a satisfying recognition factor in LEGO. In case of the Baureihe 01 I began with smaller sections like the boiler sections, cab or rear and top of the tender and checked if I could carry out my drafts in the desired color. Some items are rare or not available in dark blue, so I decided to stick to regular bricks and plates whenever possible.

Again, and again, I checked if the required bricks were available in dark blue for a reasonable prize. But as mentioned before, the BR 01 was my first steam locomotive and what is even more important my first articulated steam locomotive. At a certain point of my fast and enthusiastic progress on both details and arrangement I had to look the devil in the eye and face the bitter truth: Moving further on doesn`t make any sense without solving the critical issues concerning articulation of such a type of locomotive (pacific, 4–6–2 or 2`C1`) when it comes to negotiation of R40 curves and TLC switches. Because I don`t own any curves bigger than that, the ability to take such small radii was one of my prior goals. On the other hand, I wanted to keep the gap between engine and tender as narrow as possible.

References

I was wondering if I could realize both of these wishes or if I would have to abandon one of these desires. Long story short: once again I had to dig deep in the common digital archives. Sooner or later, I stumbled upon another excellent executed Baureihe 01 on Flickr. On his account the creator Johan van den Heuvel [Johan van den Heuvel | Flickr] shows us smart solutions for the articulation of the front truck and both the rear truck and the coupling of the tender to the engine.

Based on his concept I connected the center pivot of the first boogie of the tender with a long towing bar as close as possible to the last main axle of the engine. The rear axle of the engine is swimming underneath the towing bar. The tender is not connected to his first boogie as one would expect but to the middle of the towing bar as close to the cabin as possible. The result is some kind of virtual pivot point pulling the tender close to the engine to a minimal gap on a straight track and providing enough clearance for turnout of the cab on curved and even S-curved track like switches.

Result

Apart from the close coupling of engine and tender and the ability to negotiate R40 curves and TLC switches on the same time I was able turn a lot of other ideas or major goals from my list into reality: The special livery in dark blue with flat silver boiler rings gives my creation a very unique look. There is a real gap between the round boiler and the frame carrying the main axles enabling you to look through the spokes of the huge XXL-wheels from Shupp`s.

To eliminate the LEGO specific raster of plain brick-built sidewalls most of the tender is done in snotwork with regular 1 x 1, 1 x 2 and 1 x 4 bricks laying on their side and betraying our LEGO brains. Only when it comes to motorization, I have to admit one big sacrifice. I really would like to see the drivers of the engine be powered. But unfortunately, the 6 wagon wheels split up the boiler in 7 short sections and there is not enough space left for one (or even better two) PF-motors and a reliable drivetrain.

Due to the fit of extreme snotism space in the tender is also very limited. Keep in mind: snotism and other extravagant design techniques are nothing but cruel and relentless space killers! The only solution left is the use of PF-train-motors underneath the tender. Luckily, I managed to store and hide a PF-battery-box (6 x AAA) and a SBRICK in the coal bunker of the tender above. Recently I have equipped my V60 and my Baureihe 81 with 3D-printed rods from bricks-on-rails.de to put these new items to a test. I am very pleased with the quality and will definitely upgrade my Baureihe 01 and my upcoming Baureihe 50. Last but not least I have to mention the custom decals from modellbahndecals.de. Please note: the number my locomotive is fiction. It is the birthday of my beloved wife.

BR 01 10

Launched in 1939, the three-cylinder DRG Class 01.10 was a further development of the 01. They were 2’C1’h3 2’3′ locomotives, there was a need for faster locomotives for express trains between mayor cities in Germany. To achieve this speed, the 01.10 was designed with a three-cylinder layout. Furthermore, they were equipped with a streamlined casing to reduce air resistance. Frictional losses were minimized by the use roller bearings on the driving and coupling rods. Originally 400 locomotives where ordered. Because of the Second World War only 55 where delivered, all made by Schwarzkopf.

After the war al the BR 01 10’s where left in West-Germany. All these locomotives where in a bad shape, a lot of parts of the streamlining was removed to be used in the war machine. Secondly and the major problem of the BR 01 10 was that their boilers where made from bad quality metal. Which resulted in them ageing much faster compared to other locomotives. Due to a locomotive shortage a number of BR 01 10 got a quick refurbishment after the war to get them back in action.

In 1949 all the locomotives (accept the 01 1067), got a major refurbished, in this refurbishment what was left of there streamlining was removed. The boiler problem was later fixed in 1953-1956 which also saw a number of locomotives converted to oil-firing instead of coal. On 31 May 1975 the last BR 01 10 where decommissioned in Bahnbetriebswerk Rheine, one of the last strong holds for steam locomotives in Germany.

Stats:

Because the BR 01 10 has 3-cilinders it’s able to reach a much higher top speed compared to the standard BR 01. The top speed of the BR 01 10 was 140 km/h (87 mph) for coal powered and 150 km/h (93 mph) for oil powered. There driving wheels where the same diameter as the standard BR 01, 2000mm (78.74 in), which resulted in the top power of the locomotives being around 1,728 kW for coal powered and 1,817 kW oil powered. All the locomotives where equipped with a 2’3 T 38 tender which was able to carry 38.0 m3 of water and, 10.0-ton coal or 13,500 L oil.

Survivors:

Of the 55 locomotives, 10 survived. Just like the BR 01 there in a range of states.

• 01 1056
• 01 1061
• 01 1081
• 01 1082
• 01 1063
• 01 1066
• 01 1075
• 01 1100
• 01 1102
• 01 1104

BR 01 1075

A side profile of the SSN 01 1075 in LEGO

History of the 01 1075

To better explain why the 01 1075 is my favorite locomotive, we need to go trough a quick history lesson.

The 01 1075 was decommissioned, like many BR 01 10, in 1975 in Bahnbetriebswerk Rheine. Around that time a number of steam enthusiast in the Netherlands where looking in the possibility to buy steam locomotives in Germany, and to bring these to the Netherlands to preserved and restore them. 4 of these enthusiasts decided to join forces and create a steam heritage organization, this would from then on, be known as SSN, Stoom Stichting Nederland (Steam Organization Netherlands). There goal was to preserve and restore steam powered machines.

The first 2 locomotives that the SSN bought were the 23-023 and 01-1075. The 23-023 was a locomotive from the BR 23 class, this was still operation when the SSN bought it. It was therefore used to collect the 01 1075 from Bahnbetriebswerk Rheine an get both locomotives to the Netherlands.

The 01 1075 wasn’t operation until 1991, then the SSN decided to restore the locomotive at the Reichsbahn Ausbesserungswerk Meiningen, which was located in West-Germany. Besides getting the locomotive operation again, the locomotive was converted back into coal power. Therefore, it’s the only preserved 01 10 which is coal powered, and operation. The 01 1075 is equipped with both the Dutch and German safety systems, and it’s therefore able to operate in both the Netherlands and Germany. It is currently the fastest steam locomotive in the Netherlands.  

The SSN is located in Rotterdam, near where I live (about a 15 min drive). I literally grow up with the SSN, my first visit was back when I was just 1 year old, and I have been a regular since then. The 01 1075 has been my favorite as long as I can remember. It’s speed, profile and looks just speak to me!

From 2016-2020 I had another version of the SSN 01 1075 in LEGO, this was 95% HaBricks 01 202 model, whit some changes to colours/parts. Back at the end of 2019 I equipped the model with a Pfx brick with a XL speaker. Since the tender was to small, and the model wasn’t really scale acquired, I decided to complete redesign the locomotive from scratch.

A rough and strange 9 months later, and the locomotive is done. It still has the Pfx Brick with XL spear, with a led board for LED’s which are programmed. The Pfx Brick has original sound files that I got from the ESU lokprogrammer system. All these sounds are from the real BR 01 10, programming the sound alone took me at least a week. The LED’s which are used on the locomotive have been provided by UrbanErwin, which was kind enough to spend his free Saturday afternoon helping me out. For power the locomotive has 2 XL-motor’s inside the boiler which power both driving wheels. The driving wheels are XXL wheels from Big Ben Bricks. The costum prints are provided by BrickPrint, and the costum driving rods are provided by bricks-on-rails.

Since most German locomotives look so much alike I tried to capture the real look of the locomotive as much as possible while still building in the right scale(1:45). For this I printed scaled dwarings ,where Raised was kind enough the rescale them for me, and massure the lengt/with of all the little nots and pieces. I also highly recommend serials scale program!

Wagons:

The SSN has their own wagons to use when organizing events trough, the Netherlands and Germany. The bulk of there fleet are Bm 238 wagons. I have built 2 of these with great help from UrbanErwin (and with great help I mean he made most of the design). One of their most recognizable wagons is the Mitropa wagon, a WRm 130.1 wagon from West-Germany. This wagon is painted in the recognizable dark red paint scheme with yellow logos on the side. I made both these wagons in scale 1:45 for my SSN 01 1075. I’m planning to add more including the blue water wagon, dark blue Bm238, and the Bm 232 in dark green and white. These are all somewhere on my “to build” list. Both the Bm 238 wagons and the Mitropa model have lights, one of the Bm 238 has red lights at the end of wagon, these are made by UrbanErwin as well.

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The locomotive in action:

Since there aren’t any shows currently to visit, I haven’t been able to make a proper video of the SSN 01 1075 in action. However, I do have a video of it running with all 3 wagons inside my house. The quality isn’t perfect, and I hope to be able to properly film the train soon!

if you’re interested in seeing the real locomotives in action there a few great video’s down below. Some are in German and Dutch, but hey, steam locomotives speak a universal langue.

Ciao

–Enrico

–Simon