General cargo express transport
As a general cargo express traffic was in the Deutsche Reichsbahn called a transport concept that the transport of cargo accelerated by rail and should therefore make it more attractive for shippers. The trains of the general cargo express service were used by both German railroad administrations until the 1960s.
History and purpose
Although the rail network of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) was already largely expanded across the board in the 1920s and was far superior to the transport options of the road, the increasingly emerging small freight forwarders made competition for it in terms of the transport times of individual piece goods. The disadvantage of rail-bound transport was the low average transport speed , which for local goods trains temporarily fell to around 10 to 15 km / h. Since the freight trains often picked up or dropped off additional goods along their route and had to undertake extensive shunting trips , the transport times were extended.
Due to the constant new construction and expansion of the road network, freight transport by road expanded, which forced the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft to look for ways to ensure its freight transport by rail.
In 1927 a concept was developed that provided for a comprehensive network for accelerated general cargo transport. The aim was to avoid the long shunting and coupling times in the served stations by transporting the piece goods on their entire route to the destination station without reloading. For this purpose, newly developed luggage railcars were to be used, in which the sorting of the piece goods according to receiving locations could take place during the journey. As the delivery times for the luggage railcars required were too long to enable the transport concept to be implemented quickly, implementation was postponed for the time being. A year later, the Reichsbahndirektion Köln presented a very promising concept which, instead of the baggage railcar, provided for accelerated freight trains with a maximum of ten axles and which would be transported using passenger locomotives . The personnel for sorting the piece goods should be accommodated in a luggage trolley specially lined up for this purpose.
This concept could be implemented cost-effectively in a short time due to the large number of freight cars and railcars and marked the beginning of express general cargo transport in Germany.
vehicles
Leig units
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The first light local freight trains used for express transport of general cargo consisted of a freight train baggage car , a spacious covered freight car and a fast passenger train locomotive. Initially, this vehicle combination was called "replacement goods railcar", but this changed in 1929 and this combination was then called "light goods train" (Leig). The first combinations consisted of mostly older two-axle Prussian freight train baggage cars (Pwg) and a spacious covered freight car of the Verbandsbauart (Gl Dresden), these were closely coupled in a special way and had a loading area of around 38.8 m².
In the service regulations of the Deutsche Reichsbahn they are described as follows:
"To accelerate the handling of general cargo traffic [...] special vehicle units (Leig units) have been created that either run in independent light freight trains (Leig trains) or are placed in freight trains to save on through coaches. They consist either of two covered, spacious goods wagons (Gl) or of a baggage car and a covered, spacious goods wagon which, after removing the opposite end walls, are connected by close couplers, transition bridges and bellows so that the holds of both cars form one space. "
The designation "Leig" was affixed to the side walls of the affected wagons in numerous design variants in order to clarify their function. Some of the labels could still be read in full even with the sliding doors open. The provision of normal local freight wagons to Leig units was only permitted in exceptional cases if other transport options were not available. However, in order to be able to offer dispatchers of bulky objects and dangerous goods a faster transport, in some cases stake or similar wagons were added at the end of the train.
When converting to Leig units, the freight wagons involved were given heaters, small side windows and continuous lighting using gas lamps. Instead of the buffer plates usually attached to the ends of the wagons, depending on the side, only a simple buffer or a bumper plate was attached, which optimized the distance between the wagons within the network to 540 mm and enabled a height difference of 40 mm, which occasionally occurred at a maximum speed of 65 km / h.
In Austria, the Leig was a freight train in contrast to the district freight train, which basically had a different operational sequence than the German light freight train.
Covered, spacious freight cars
After 1930, the Deutsche Reichsbahn also converted large, covered freight wagons of the Gl Dresden wagon type of the association design into Leig units. These units kept a brakeman's cab and got a train driver's compartment. In addition, the suspension was improved by nine-layer leaf suspension springs with a spring length of 1800 mm so that the top speed could be increased to 75 km / h. The load weight per car was 15.5 t and the load capacity per car was 15.75 t. The number of combinations built was already 288 in September 1932, which were represented in all directorates.
The combinations of covered freight wagons of the association and interchangeable types were only represented by way of example. The brakeman's cab was retained for all wagons, but the windows differed considerably in size, shape and arrangement. The Leig units also differ in the arrangement of the diagonal struts, ventilation openings, toilets and the front doors.
In 1933, instead of a freight train baggage car, a second, covered and spacious freight car was used. This was then expanded with a separate compartment for the staff. Often an interchangeable freight wagon of the Glh Dresden wagon type with an axle base of 7700 mm was used for this. These units then received the secondary generic symbol "ll" and thus became the "Gllh Dresden" wagon type.
In 1953, the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) procured a three-axle Leig unit with the designation Gllmhs 01, which was similar in structure to the series car of the type Gllmehs 52.
Luggage railcar
Originally, the entire concept of express general cargo transport was based on newly built freight railcars . Since these could not be procured in the required quantity at short notice, the Leig units were an inexpensive alternative that could be procured quickly. Nevertheless, the Deutsche Reichsbahn had three more luggage railcars built in 1930 and two more in 1941 for the transport of general cargo.
DR series 10001 to 10003
These three railcars with 150 hp power and 60 km / h based on many private railways employed Wismar Maybach railcars of the series scheme 851. They received the vehicle numbers 10 001, 10 002 and 10 003, and the Generic name L4vT. After the war, the three cars came to the Deutsche Bundesbahn, where they were listed as VT 69 902, VT 69 900 and 69 901.
DR series 10 004 and 10 005
followed in 1941 by two more new vehicles with a top speed of 110 km / h, which were derived from the four-axle motor vehicle series DR 137 058 . These two railcars belonged to the Dresden generic district, had the generic symbol GvT and had the car numbers 10 004 and 10 005. Both railcars also came to the Deutsche Bundesbahn and, like railcars, were designated as VT 20.5 and retired from 1960 to 1962.
Concentrating on the Second World War no longer permitted the further development of freight railcars.
Operational flow
It was essential for the operational process that the piece goods could be sorted while they were in motion. In this way the transport to a sorting station (general cargo transfer station) could be avoided. In each double wagon, there was the “entrance” in one wagon and only the “exit” of the goods in the other car. There were standardized train lengths, so that the goods could be made ready for loading on the platform and the unloading area kept free.
End of express general cargo traffic
In the 1970s, the concept of express general cargo traffic could no longer keep up with the increasingly flexible truck and combined traffic and was gradually abandoned. During the cargo rapid transit for rail transport in the Federal Republic of Germany played no significant role more was in the DDR in the DR established a system of baggage and Expreßgutzügen (Gex) and Expressgutwagen in passenger and express trains.
Bibliography and sources
- Stefan Carstens, Rudolf Ossig: Güterwagen Volume 1, Covered Wagons , MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 2000