Class 86 Steam Locomotive

It was the period of the Golden Twenties when the German State Railroad newly founded in 1920 started its great leap forward in motive power technology. Countless locomotive types were taken over from the inheritance of the dissolved provincial state railways, and the upkeep of these locomotives was complex and uneconomical. The situation on branch lines was especially critical, where around 50 different classes chugged across the countryside. In addition, there were main line locomotives also earning their daily bread there. A hastily assembled committee for the standardization of locomotives was tasked with developing standard designs containing as many swappable parts as possible, a quantum leap in the very detailed motive power purchasing at that time. A general-purpose, very powerful, and fast tank locomotive was to introduce a new era on branch lines in addition to the classes 64 and 24. The selection fell to a 70 metric ton heavy design with four driving axles and a single-axle pilot truck and trailing truck. The class 86 was planned for this approximately 1,000 horsepower locomotive type. In 1928, the first of 16 pre-production locomotives was delivered to the German State Railroad. This began a truly successful story. These units turned in marvelous results – and not only on branch lines. With a maximum speed of 70 or 80 km/h / 44 or 50 mph and a high level of pulling power, they could be used in passenger and local freight service on main lines. By 1943 774 units of the class 86 had been delivered to the German State Railroad. All the reputable locomotive builders such as BMAG, Borsig, Krupp, Henschel & Sohn, the Esslingen Machinery Company, Orenstein & Koppel, and Schichau (Elbing) participated in the building of the locomotives. The class 86 thereby belonged to the most built standard design locomotive, and no other standard design tank locomotive came even close to its quantities. Over the course of a long production period there were numerous design improvements with several of them altering the appearance of this successful locomotive. Starting with road number 86 378 in 1941 was the striking introduction of water tanks with an extended cutout in the front part. This was connected with better access to the control rod lever, to the Kuhnsch Loop, and to the swing arm. After the end of World War II there were 365 units of the class 86 on the network of the later German Federal Railroad. Except for one locomotive, all went over into operation on the DB. In 1957, another 14 units were added from the roster of the Saar railways. On the DB a second heyday of this popular and dependable "86" began. It now had to be a real jack-of-all-trades for everything: On main lines it was seen pulling long passenger trains and sometimes even limited stop fast passenger trains, and stations such as Frankfurt, Nürnberg, or Kassel were entered on a daily basis. Freight trains were in the operating plans of this general-purpose workhorse as well as switching service in freight yards. The class 86 was the dominant class on branch lines chiefly in Bavarian and Franconian areas. These locomotives were seen there for a long time pulling primeval local railroad cars steaming through attractive landscapes. They proved themselves the best once again in typical branch line local freight service. The retirement statistics show the importance of the class 86 in the Economic Miracle period: Although 595 units of the class V 100 had already been delivered by the end of 1964, the roster of the class 86 was still a significant 352 units at that time. Starting in 1965, its star began to sink rapidly. Only 38 units were given a new road number after the computer-generated numbering system introduced in 1968. The last three class 86 units were put into storage by the DB in 1974. Ten class 86 units can still be admired in Western Germany, road numbers 86 333 and 744 on the Pressnitztal Railroad are even still operational and under steam they bring back memories of one of the most successful locomotive types on German rails.