Product Features and Details
- Boiler, locomotive chassis and tender box in die-cast zinc
- Factory Weathered Model
- Finest metal spoked wheels
- True-to-epoch lighting, multipart lamp housing
- Illuminated driver’s cab
- Spring buffers
- Detailed boiler rear wall
- Short coupling between locomotive and tender
- Perfectly replicated back boilerplate
- Filigree rods and coupling rods
- Precise printing
- Pipes and extra mounted parts in low material thickness
- Digital version with glowing of the ash container
- Movable valve gear inside the frame
- Closed front end, exchangeable part and coupler pocket enclosed
After the final adjustment of the standardized renumbering plan, DRG still had 660 G71s as BR 55 0-6. They had long ceased being high performers for route service in goods traffic, a role which now belonged to the BR 55 25-56, BR 57 10-40 and BR 58 10-21 (former G 81, G 10 and G 12). The locomotives with eight coupled wheels were now preferred in shunting service and on branch lines, where large reserves were needed. Many locomotives used in shunting service received a conspicuous protective wall for the employees. According to the area of operation, the Reichsbahn maintenance and repair shops in Mülheim-Speldorf, Gleiwitz, Lingen and Kassel were the most important. The inventory had been cut almost in half by the middle of the 30s. But with the takeover of the Saar region, the nationalization of major private railways and the beginning of the war, it started to grow again. Thus, the LBE locomotives were classified as 55 681-683, the Saar railways locomotives were numbered 55 661-673, and 105 formerly German locomotives were added from Poland with already retired 55 series numbers. Every locomotive was needed in the war, so the aged G71s returned to employment. The situation was dire after the war ended. Most machines were shut down as defective, and many remained in their previous area of operation in the east. The Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) returned all locomotives that had belonged to Poland before the war, but no such exchange occurred with the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB). Following this adjustment, the Deutsche Bundesbahn took over nearly 100 locomotives numbered 55 0-6 after its founding.
