The DRG Class 24 steam engines were German standard locomotives ('' Einheitslokomotiven'') built for the

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regi ...

between 1928 and 1939 to haul passenger trains.

History

These engines, nickname the 'prairie horse' (''Steppenpferd'') were developed specially for the long, flat routes in

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1 ...

. 95 examples were built by the firms of Schichau,

Linke-Hofmann Alstom Transport Deutschland, formerly Linke-Hofmann-Busch, is a German manufacturing company originally established in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) to produce locomotives and rolling stock. Its origins lay in the wheelwright business of Gottf ...

and others. The two units with operating numbers 24 069 and 24 070 were supplied by

Borsig Borsig is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (1867–1897), German entrepreneur * August Borsig (1804–1854), German businessman * Conrad von Borsig (1873–1945), German mechanical engineer * Ernst Borsig Ernst August Pau ...

with a medium pressure

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

. These locos ran with a boiler

overpressure Overpressure (or blast overpressure) is the pressure caused by a shock wave over and above normal atmospheric pressure. The shock wave may be caused by sonic boom or by explosion, and the resulting overpressure receives particular attention when m ...

of , but were rebuilt in 1952. The

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remaine ...

took over 38 locomotives and retired them by 1966. The last one with the DB was locomotive number 24 067, which was stabled in

Rheydt Rheydt () is a borough of the German city Mönchengladbach, located in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 1918 and then again from 1933 (due to a split from Mönchengladbach arranged by Joseph Goebbels, who was born there) through 1975 it w ...

and taken out of service there in August 1966. The engines were given operating numbers 24 001 to 24 095. Engine numbers 24 002, 004, 009, 021 and 030 were left with the DR after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. They were all stabled in

Jerichow Jerichow () is a town on the east side of the river Elbe, in the District of Jerichower Land, of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. With about , the municipality of Jerichow is one of the largest municipalities in area size in Germany. Geo ...

shed in 1960 and their sphere of operations until 1968 was the branch line network of the

Kleinbahn AG The term ''Kleinbahn'' (literally 'small railway', plural: ''Kleinbahnen'') was a light railway concept used especially in Prussia for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requiremen ...

Genthin Genthin () is a town in Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Genthin is situated east of the Elbe river on the Elbe-Havel Canal, approx. northeast of Magdeburg and west of Brandenburg. The municipal area consists o ...

. No. 24 009 was re-numbered in 1970 to 37 1009 and was used as a reserve breakdown engine in

Güsten Güsten is a town in the district of Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Wipper, west of Bernburg. It is part of the '' Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Saale-Wipper. It absorbed the former muni ...

and

Stendal The Hanseatic City of Stendal () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the Stendal District and the unofficial capital of the Altmark region. Geography Situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located ...

. In 1972 it was sold to the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

railway magazine ''

Eisenbahn-Kurier ''Eisenbahn Kurier'' (German for ''Railway Courier''), or EK, is a monthly magazine published in Freiburg, Germany, whose focus is on railway and model railway themes. Its target audience is railway modellers and model railway fans, as well as ra ...

. '' Thirty-four locomotive remained in Poland after the Second World War, where

PKP PKP may stand for: Organizations * Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930, original Filipino communist party * Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas, underground Filipino Maoist party * Phi Kappa Phi, oldest all-discipline honor society in the United Stat ...

classified them as Oi2. They served until the last one was withdrawn in 1976. One of the preserved locomotives in Germany, no. 24 083, had been in service in Poland. The locomotives were equipped with 3 T 16 and 3 T 17 tenders. Four Class 24 locomotives have been preserved: three in Germany (24 004, 24 009 and 24 083), and one in Poland (Oi2-29).

Literature

* Klaus-Detlev Holzborn (2015): ''Der Sonderling 24 061''. In: Eisenbahn-Magazin. Nr. 7, ISSN 0342-1902, S. 14. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drg Class 24 24 2-6-0 locomotives 24 Henschel locomotives Krupp locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1928 Borsig locomotives Passenger locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of Germany 1′C h2 locomotives Schichau-Werke locomotives

History

See also

Literature