DRB Class 52

The Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 52 is a German steam locomotive built in large numbers during the Second World War. It was the most produced type of the so-called Kriegslokomotiven or Kriegsloks. The Class 52 was a wartime development of the pre-war DRG Class 50, using fewer parts and less expensive materials to speed production. They were designed by Richard Wagner who was Chief Engineer of the Central Design Office at the Locomotive Standards Bureau of the DRG. About a dozen classes of locomotive were referred to as Kriegslokomotiven; however, the three main classes were the Class 52, 50 and 42. They were numbered 52 1-52 7794. A total of 20 are preserved in Germany.
Many locomotives passed into Russian ownership after the Second World War. In the USSR, the class were designated TE. Other operators of the type included Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Norway and Turkey, among others.

Design

The Class 52 was a simplified version of the prewar Reichsbahn class 50 locomotive. The simplified design of the class 52 was intended to reduce the man-hours and skills needed to manufacture it and to adapt to wartime shortages of strategic materials. Additional design changes gave the locomotives and their crew better protection against the cold. Between 1942 and the end of the war in May 1945, over 6,300 Class 52 locomotives were built. Additional locomotives were built post-war, giving a class total of probably 6719 units, delivered by seventeen manufacturers. The Class 42 was a larger version of the Class 52, but was produced in smaller numbers.
Wagner had wanted locomotives which were long-lasting and easy to maintain, and unlike British engineers did not consider a high power-to-weight ratio a priority. The resulting Kriegslokomotive had a low axleload of and could haul 40 percent more freight than the old Prussian locomotives they replaced. The Class 52 could haul at without significant strain. On a 3% grade they could haul 800 tons at 5 km/h.

Manufacture

Over 7,794 locomotives of DRB Class 52 type were built across Europe for use on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Thus it was one of the most numerous steam locomotives in the world. To achieve such numbers, the German locomotive manufacturers were merged into the 'Community of Greater German Locomotive Manufacturers', Gemeinschaft Grossdeutscher Lokomotivhersteller, which was a subdivision of the 'Rail Vehicles Main Committee', Hauptausschuss Schienenfahrzeuge founded in 1942. Key HAS figures were the Reichsminister for munition and armament, Albert Speer and the Reich transport minister, Julius Dorpmüller.
Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 Nazi Germany disbanded the Polish State Railways. Polish rail officials were either executed in mass shootings or imprisoned, and some 8,000 managerial positions were staffed with German officials. Former Polish companies began producing German engines BR44, BR50 and BR86 as early as 1940, some using forced labor. By 1944, the factories in Poznań and Chrzanów were producing the redesigned Kriegslok BR52 locomotives for the Eastern Front. These locomotives were made almost entirely of steel; locomotives in that battlespace were not expected to survive for long, so managers eliminated the use of higher-value non-ferrous metals like bronze, chrome, copper, brass, and nickel.
The GGL included the following locomotive manufacturers :

LOFAG, Vienna: 1,053 units
Henschel, Kassel : 1,050 units
Schwartzkopff, Berlin: 647 units
Krauss-Maffei, Munich: 613 units
Borsig, Berlin; branches: Borsig-Rheinmetall AG Düsseldorf, Borsig Lokomotivwerke Hennigsdorf, Borsig Werke Breslau-Hundsfeld : 542 units
Schichau-Werke Elbing : 505 units.
Maschinenbau und Bahnbedarfs AG formerly Orenstein & Koppel, Babelsberg: 400 units
DWM Posen, Poznań, German takeover of Polish manufacturer H. Cegielski – Poznań: 314 units
Oberschlesische Lokfabrik Krenau, Chrzanów, German takeover of Polish manufacturer Fablok: 264 units
Maschinenfabrik Esslingen: 250 units
Jung, Jungenthal, Kirchen: 231 units
Škoda Works, Plzeň: 153 units
Grafenstaden, Strasbourg: 139 units

Post-war use

In the early postwar years, Class 52s were used by many European countries. Western European countries replaced them with more modern locomotives as soon as possible, with the exception of Austria where they were used until 1976. The simplicity and effectiveness, plus the large production total, meant that many eastern European countries were slow to withdraw their Kriegslokomotiven. Poland used them into the 1990s; some in Bosnia are still in use as of 2023.

Belgium, SNCB Type 26 – 100 locomotives originally ordered by the DRG from Belgian manufacturers during the occupation but not completed until after liberation.
Bosnia – some still in industrial service transporting brown coal from the Kreka mine in Bosnia as of 2023.
Bulgaria, BDŽ class 15 – over 150 locomotives numbered 15.01-1650.
Czechoslovakia, ČSD class 555.0 – Some rebuilt as Class 555.3 to burn mazut fuel oil, a large surplus of which was generated in synthetic fuel plants in occupied Czechoslovakia from brown coal. The 555.3 differed visibly by having a lid on the smokestack to slow down cooling of the lining of the flue passage, to prevent cracking.
East Germany – around 800 locomotives. 200 rebuilt as DR Class 52.80
Hungary, MÁV class 520 – 100 locomotives acquired from the Soviet Union in 1963 and used into the 1980s.
Luxembourg, CFL 5600-series – 20 locomotives, half ex-SNCB Type 26, half built by SACM in 1946.
Norway, NSB class 63 – 74 locomotives sent during the German occupation and seized post-war. Nicknamed Stortysker. One engine, restored by the Norwegian Railway Club, is preserved at the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar.
Poland, PKP class Ty2 – 1,200 locomotives after the end of the war, a further 200 acquired from the Soviet Union in 1962–64. Began to be phased out in the 1980s; its last regular use was in 1999.
Romania, CFR class 150.1000 – about 100 locomotives.
Soviet Union, Class TE – over 2,100 locomotives captured or seized.
Turkey, TCDD class 56501 – 10 locomotives purchased from Germany in 1943, a further 43 loaned from Germany in 1943-44, which were permanently seized when Turkey declared war on Germany.
Yugoslavia, Yugoslav Railways JŽ 33 – nearly 350 including 15 supplied directly to Serbia and 24 to Croatia during the occupation.