DRG Class 02


The German DRG Class 02 engines were standard express train locomotives with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. Number 02 001 was the first Einheitsdampflokomotive in the DRG to be completed.
In procuring a standard express train steam locomotive, the Deutsche Reichsbahn carried out a comparison between a superheated two-cylinder type and a four-cylinder compound locomotive. Ten examples of each type were built from 1925, and the Class 02 vehicles were given operating numbers 02 001 – 02 010. The first eight engines were manufactured in 1925 by the firm of Henschel, two more were built in 1926 by Maffei.
Because the Class 02 steam engines were badly designed, the compound engine could only produce a high level of power at speeds of over 70 km/h. In addition, below 1000 PSi its steam consumption was higher than that of the Class 01.
Compared with the Class 01s, these engines had a complicated, and therefore maintenance-intensive, drive; as a result no more were ordered. From 1937 to 1942 the vehicles were successively converted to two-cylinder operation and regrouped as Class 01s with the new numbers 01 011 and 01 233 – 01 241.
The first eight engines were equipped with 2'2' T 30 tenders; the other two with 2'2 T 32 tenders. Later on, the second tender was coupled to all of the first eight engines as well.

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