The DR Class 119 was an East German Deutsche Reichsbahn

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

that was built in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, more or less as

Design by committee Design by committee is a pejorative term for a project that has many designers involved but no unifying plan or vision. Usage of the term The term is used to refer to suboptimal traits that such a process may produce as a result of having to comp ...

of several communist countries. When the

Deutsche Bahn AG (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

formed up in 1993 it was redesignated as DB Class 219. They were nicknamed "U-boats", "Karpatenschreck" ("Carpathian Terror") or "Ceaușescus Rache" ("Ceaușescu's revenge"), due to the numerous technical problems the engines suffered before redesign.

History

The Class 119 was basically a development of the successful Class 118. In the late 1970s the DR needed locomotives with electric train heating, an axle load (''Achsfahrmasse'') of under 16 t and a power output of over 2,000 horsepower. As a result of the

Comecon The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, often abbreviated as Comecon ( ) or CMEA, was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of states, Easter ...

agreements, the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

economy was not allowed to build diesel locomotives with more than 1,500 horsepower. The locomotive builders of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

could only supply heavy engines - the Classes 130-132 and 142. The only engine builder, who also wanted to use the "construction kit" (''Baukasten'') principle was the "23rd August" Locomotive Works, Bucharest, in

. The Romanian manufacturer declared itself also ready to install diesel engines produced in East Germany. The installation of such engines did not happen, however, because there were coordination problems in East Germany's national planning commission. In order to fulfil the order, the Bucharest factory installed engines under licence from the

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

manufacturer, MTU. Other countries in Comecon also received subcontractor orders. East Germany itself supplied ''inter alia'' hydrodynamic transmissions and

axle motor An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearin ...

s. The DR procured 200 locomotives from 1976 to 1985. The locomotive drive was, however, plagued by shortcomings and problems from the start. In its early days, 50% of the locomotives were in the workshops at any one time. After 1990, several attempts were made to improve the unreliable locomotives through conversions or modernizations. However, these attempts proved to be too expensive. By 2001 they were sold or scrapped.

Literature

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External links

The Class 219/229 in numbers, facts and pictures

The BR 119 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn

DR Class 119 from Romania
{{German diesel locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1976 Diesel locomotives of Germany 119 DR 119 FAUR locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of Germany