The system of German railway wagon classes (''Wagengattungen'') was introduced in Germany in 1902 and 1905 by the
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...
based on their system of
norms, and was soon taken up by the other state railways (''
Länderbahnen''). On the formation of 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 ...
, the system became mandatory across the whole of Germany. In the course of the years more and more adjustments to it were made. It was finally replaced between 1964 and 1968 when the two German railway administrations - 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 ...
and the
Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany)
The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR ''(German Reich Railways)'' was the operating name of state owned railways in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and after German reunification until 1 January 1994.
In 1949, occupied Germany's rail ...
- adopted the internationally standard
UIC classifications for
passenger coaches
A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passenge ...
and
goods wagons. Today, the system is still regularly being used for
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...
goods wagons, because these were not generally given UIC designations, as well as on many historical vehicles.
The wagon class comprises one or more ''main class letters'' (''Hauptgattungszeichen'') (in capitals, sometimes with lower case letters in between) and possibly several ''secondary class letters'' (''Nebengattungszeichen'') (always in lower case). Combinations of several main class letters are possible, e.g. on passenger coaches with different accommodation classes.
Main class letters
In order to distinguish
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of tr ...
wagons, the last letter of the main class was doubled to begin with, e.g. ''BC'' → ''BCC'', ''G'' → ''GG'' (exceptions were the ''Post'', ''Salon'', ''Schlaf'' und ''Speise'' where there was no difference). From 1928 the system was changed on passenger coaches. Instead of doubling the letters, the number of axles was indicated where it was greater than two. So an eight-wheeled BC coach was no longer classified as a ''BCC'' but as a ''BC4''. That now made it possible to distinguish passenger coaches with three axles or more. For goods wagons, the doubling of letters was retained. Only on ''Dgw'' and ''ZM'' wagons was the differentiation dropped, whilst the ''BT'', ''H'', ''Pwg'', ''V'' and ''VO'' wagons had no bogie variants anyway.
Secondary letters for passenger coaches
Secondary letters for goods wagons
Description of the maximum load
Four- and six-wheeled wagons
Wagons with eight wheels or more (including HH wagons)
Description of loading length and loading area
Description of features of importance for train formation
Description of individual wagon classes
Classes G/GG and N
Class H/HH
Classes K/KK, O/OO, VO and X/XX
Classes R/RR and S/SS
Class T/TT
Class V
Class ZM
Class Z/ZZ
Sources
* Helmut Behrends, Wolfgang Hensel, Gerhard Wiedau: ''Güterwagen-Archiv 1.'' transpress, Berlin 1989, .
* Helmut Behrends, Wolfgang Hensel, Gerhard Wiedau: ''Güterwagen-Archiv 2.'' transpress, Berlin 1989, .
* Peter Wagner, Sigrid Wagner, Joachim Deppmeyer: ''Reisezugwagen 1. Sitz- und Gepäckwagen.'' transpress 1993, .
See also
*
History of rail transport in Germany
:''This article is part of the history of rail transport by country series''
The history of rail transport in Germany can be traced back to the 16th century. The earliest form of railways, wagonways, were developed in Germany in the 16th century. ...
*
Open wagon
Open wagons (trucks in the UK) form a large group of railway goods wagons designed primarily for the transportation of bulk goods that are not moisture-retentive and can usually be tipped, dumped or shovelled. The International Union of R ...
*
Pocket wagon
External links
Leitzahlen und Nummernsystem für DR-Güterwagen nach 1951 bei FremoDeutsche Güterwagen von 1910 bis 1945
{{German rolling stock
Rolling stock of Germany
Rail freight transport in Germany