Reko-Wagen (DR)
As Rekowagen when were Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) railroad cars called, caused by reconstruction of pre-war cars. In addition to the passenger train wagons discussed in this article, freight wagons were also converted. The term reconstruction is to be understood here in the sense of the GDR language usage : What is meant is not the restoration or reproduction of an earlier condition, but a thoroughgoing modernization. At the DB , such vehicles were called conversion cars .
prehistory
Like the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB), the DR also had to contend with a significant shortage of wagons after the Second World War, as well as with a considerable obsolescence of passenger wagons well into the 1970s . Three- and four-axle compartment wagons of Prussian and Saxon designs as well as a vast number of two-axle wagons from before and after the First World War still made up the bulk of the vehicle fleet for passenger and express trains . The few double-decker trains procured for urban and commuter traffic, as well as the new center-entry carriages from the 1950s, were not enough to renew and rejuvenate the out-of- date equipment for passenger transport , especially since their maintenance had also meant increased expenditure. Like the DB in the 1950s with the conversion cars , the DR also started to modernize the pre-war cars - called reconstruction. Such large numbers were achieved that in the mid-1970s more than half of all DR passenger cars were reko cars.
Originally, all Reko cars were painted dark green with a gray roof. There was also a thin, white decorative stripe similar to the modernization car below the window and a black stripe at the height of the solebar. In the late 1970s, both were dropped when repainted. The chrome oxide green paint introduced in 1984 was only given to a few four-axle vehicles. Because of their use in the express train service, however, numerous half-baggage cars were painted in chrome oxide green / beige from 1984 onwards.
Standard gauge wagons
Two and three-axle wagons, types Baag and Bag
The Raw "Einheit" Leipzig converted its first test car in 1956 from an old regional railway car . From the donor car, a compartment car with a wooden body , only the floor frame with the running gear and braking system remained . The wheelsets remained on slide bearings. A corrugated iron base was welded onto the frame, which was provided with new head pieces. Otherwise, a new steel car body was produced, the concept being very similar to that of the three-axle DB conversion wagons from 1953. Unlike the Bundesbahn wagon type, there were only six (DB: seven) windows between the two entry doors at the end of the wagon that were not retracted. The sliding doors opened towards the end of the car. The windows corresponded to the hinged windows of the double-deck cars. The car body was extended at both ends over the head pieces up to 150 millimeters behind the buffer level . The roof was drawn in at the ends. The prototype was equipped with 44 upholstered seats in the second car class and a toilet. This took up the space of a four-seat group and was accessible from the entrance area.
The first car was immediately followed by a pilot series with twelve vehicles, in which the roof had just been pulled through for cost reasons, as was the case with the DB conversion wagons. Otherwise the same construction principles applied. The length over the buffers was 13,080 millimeters.
The series cars went into production from 1960 at Raw Halberstadt. The floor frames were brought to a uniform length, the length over the buffers increased to 13,120 millimeters. Compared to the pilot series, only one door was installed in the front right in the direction of travel , which was designed as a wide sliding door. At first these consisted of steel with rod locks , later they were replaced by aluminum doors with Kiekert locks during overhauls in Raw Potsdam . The toilet was in an entry room across from a door. Otherwise, the building principles introduced in the prototype also applied here . The rubber bulges that had become common across Europe after the Second World War were also used as car crossings to protect the crossover. These could be closed with a six-fold (five-fold next to the toilet) folding door. The seats were made of a foam-rubber-padded synthetic leather cover, the luggage racks were made of aluminum. The interior doors were made of wood, as were the wall cladding and window frames, which were later made of aluminum. All cars received the low-pressure circulation heating (Nuhz), some - marked with the suffix "e" - an electric heater for 1000 volts at 16⅔ Hertz installed. The incandescent lamp lighting was fed by a belt-driven generator , and the battery box was suspended under the floor of the car.
Two- and three-axle regional railway wagons as well as vehicles of the standard design from the twenties and thirties were used as donor cars. From 1960 to 1964 a total of 712 two-axle wagons of type Bg (e) weighing around 17 tons were built in several construction lots; from 1966, when the UIC wagon numbers were introduced in Europe, they were designated as Baag (e). The 1520 three-axle vehicles, weighing 19 tons, were marked as B3g (e) until 1966, then as Bag (e). Both types of identical interior had 48 seats in common.
In 1962 and 1963, some cars were provided with load compartments in which 16 seats were left out at the end of the car. The two-axle vehicles were classified as Baagtr (e) (until 1966: Bg [e] tr), the three-axle vehicles as Bagtr (e) (until 1966 B3g (e) tr) in the DR equipment park.
For a long time, the two- and three-axle Reko passenger cars were very important in passenger transport in the DR. In 1970, they made up 30 percent of the passenger car population. The scheduled retirement of the cars began in the early 1980s and was completed by 1991.
Baggage and mail trolleys
In addition to the passenger carriages, 280 three-axle luggage wagons of the Reko design were produced by the Raw Halberstadt from 1963 to 1965. These 16.4 ton wagons were classified as Dage and Dag. Until 1966 these cars were called Pw3g (e). In 1993, the vehicles still in the fleet were given the typical DB type numbers 953 (with steam and electric heating) and 954 (only with steam heating). 113 cars were taken over by the new Deutsche Bahn AG in 1994.
In addition, there were rail mail cars built from 1961 with a number of 158 Posta-cl / 12.8 vehicles (until 1966 Post3-cl12.8). These weighed 16 tons. Both the baggage and mail cars, like the prototype passenger car and the pilot series, had two entry doors on each side at the end of the car, which, unlike the pilot series, opened towards the middle of the car. The luggage trolleys also had three side windows and a double-leaf loading door, and inside next to the loading space, there was also a service compartment. The mail wagons only had two side windows and a single-leaf sliding door with a smaller window. They were only intended for the transport of mail roll containers and had an undivided cargo space. One of the entry areas was just a maneuvering cabin without a passage to the hold. There were no transition facilities or heating, only steam and electrical heating lines.
All two- and three-axle Reko cars had a body length of 12,820 millimeters (prototypes 13,220), 3043 millimeters wide and four meters high. They were only used in passenger trains (from 1991 local trains) and were only approved for a maximum speed of 90 km / h. The redeemable Knorr and Westinghouse brakes were taken over from the donor vehicles. The sliding axle bearings were retained. At the end of the 1970s, starting with the two-axle vehicles, they were gradually changed to roller bearings, using conversion wheel sets made from plain bearing wheel sets. The central axes of the three-axle vehicles kept the plain bearings until they were retired.
Four-axle car
After the success of the Rekowagen, which was procured until 1964, the DR also wanted to reconstruct the numerous existing four-axle compartment wagons from the state railway stocks according to the same principles. For this, the underframes of the old wagons were also brought to the same length. In 1964 two test carriages were made, which had a length of 18.7 meters. This length corresponded to that of the transfer platforms from the Raw Halberstadt factory. The series delivery took place from 1967 as type Bghw (at delivery Bghwe). The Prussian standard bogies from the donor wagons were retained in the first 50 wagons, but they were converted from plain bearings to roller bearings . The next 300 wagons received the original American gooseneck bogies, but converted to roller-bearing wheel sets, cradle carriers made of steel and cradle coil springs, an astonishing parallel to the four-axle conversion wagons of the Federal Railroad from 1958. The gooseneck bogies of the DB conversion wagons retained their cradle leaf springs and wooden cradles . All other Bghw cars then ran on new Görlitz V bogies and wheelsets with a running circle diameter of 950 millimeters. They received multi-release air brakes of the KE-GP type. This enabled a speed of 140 km / h in terms of running technology and 120 km / h in terms of braking. The energy supply for the car lighting was provided by an axle generator, initially a direct current generator with drive by a cardan shaft, in the case of the last car, including the half baggage car, via a three-phase claw pole generator flanged to an axle bearing.
The steel superstructure had on each side at the end of the car - in contrast to the 1962 incurred Modernisierungswagen - Drehfalttüren the UIC type. The passages protected with a rubber bead were closed off with a double sliding door. The interior offered two large rooms with 40 non-smoking and 24 smoking spaces. In contrast to the two- and three-axle vehicles, the seats, which were much better padded, had head-high backrests. With the inner aluminum frame, the windows corresponded to the later design of the two- and three-axle vehicles. All Reko cars had single-glazed windows, which misted up badly in cold weather. At the end without handbrake there was a storage space with two folding seats next to the toilet . The interior lighting was provided by fluorescent lamps. The wall paneling around the windows consisted of light green Sprelacart , underneath of dark green oilcloth. In later refurbishments, the Raw replaced these panels on some cars with Sprelacart in light wood decor. Until 1977, the Halberstadt raw material produced 3031 Bghw cars, which were given the DB type number 522 in 1993. The 500 series number indicated the imminent retirement.
The last series of cars were completely new builds and therefore did not come from donor vehicles. In addition, some cars did not have electrical heating. This practice was abandoned in 1973. Two years later, twelve Reko wagons received a supply from the train bus and were classified as Bghwee, from 1993 as Bghwz 522 . Until the 1980s, they were used in all types of domestic transport except in city express trains , after which they were used in express, passenger and local trains due to the progressive delivery of center-entry and then side-aisle cars. For the Rübelandbahn electrified with 25,000 volts at 50 Hertz , some vehicles received a single-voltage power supply of 1500 volts / 50 Hertz, which is unusual for German standards.
The Bghw wagons were originally approved with the exchange code 57 for PPW traffic with the OSJD railways , but were increasingly downgraded to domestic vehicles as more suitable wagons became available. An obstacle to the permissive international use was the different number of seats.
As a supplement to the four-axle vehicles, half-luggage wagons of the type BDghws (e) (later generic name Bdghwe) (DB AG: BDghws 534 ) were also delivered, a total of 202 copies. The car body corresponded to that of the normal seated car, but half had a luggage compartment with a side aisle and a service compartment and a double loading folding door on each side. From the beginning, these cars ran on Görlitz V bogies, they were equipped with KE-GPR brakes, so that a speed of 140 km / h was possible in terms of running and braking. Some of these wagons were approved for international traffic and also came to the Federal Republic on express trains .
Dining car
Already in 1960/61 emerged in Mitropa -Werk Gotha nine 22.9-meter-long Reko- dining car on the basis altbrauchbarer bases. Their car body followed the construction principles of the two- and three-axle Reko cars; in particular, the large, diagonally arranged sliding doors at the ends of the car were taken over. Five cars from 1960 were converted from seating cars and kept the gooseneck bogies of the donor cars, the four remaining cars from 1961 were converted from dining cars and received new type Görlitz V bogies.
In the 1970s, dining cars based on the four-axle Reko cars were also made for Mitropa. These were built as a new building in 50 copies in Raw Halberstadt as type WRge. These were built from 1973 (20 pieces) and 1977 (30 pieces). Their Görlitz V bogies and the KE-GPR type brake also allowed 140 km / h, with this and with the multi-voltage heating, these wagons were also suitable for international traffic. The speed was reduced to 120 km / h in 1986. The dining room offered space for 24 guests on red seats covered with artificial leather in a 2 + 2 arrangement. Next to the dining room was the buffet wing (5.30 meters) with a bar that could be locked with roller shutters, followed by the 3.90 meter long kitchen including the pantry. On the side facing away from the side aisle, the first cars had only four windows, and later six windows. All of the cars were painted in Mitropa red, without the usual yellow stripe under the window. The Mitropa letters were emblazoned twice on the flank. In addition, there were the usual "dining cars" in German, French, Italian and Russian under the roof. The wagons were registered internationally, but they were used almost exclusively in domestic traffic.
It was not until 1976 that some designated dining cars in orange-beige paint were used for city express services. Most dining cars that were not used in these express trains, had the DR 1985-1987 in the buffet car can be converted to type Wgr. The paint was now in fawn-beige and thus resembled that of the new double-decker cars used in the Halle / Saale, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Dresden S-Bahn traffic . In 1993, the DB-compliant type numbers WRg 541 were provided for the dining cars and WRbg 540 for the buffet cars . They were no longer written to because of the early retirement.
Raw Halberstadt planned the further construction of reko cars. However, after the transfer table there was extended to 27 meters in 1978, cars with a length of 26.4 meters could be produced. These were designed as center entry cars and as express train cars.
Modernization of Rekowagen
The Reko wagons proved their worth by and large, but at the beginning of the 1980s many vehicles showed severe rust perforations and other signs of wear. The outer paneling around the windows was particularly affected. Raw Delitzsch, responsible for the Reko cars in addition to Raw Erwin Kramer Potsdam , modernized a car on a trial basis in 1983. Striking especially the new ones were UIC - sliding windows , as they had the express train passenger cars from the railroad cars Bautzen. In this car, the smoking and non-smoking compartments were swapped in relation to the original car, so that the non-smoking compartment was now right next to the large entry area and the toilet. Due to the poor condition of many of the car bodies, the series conversion was not carried out. To stabilize the corrosion damage, only the window frames on some cars were provided with a cover plate. For the fundamental renewal of the car stock, the construction of open-plan cars with a car length of 26.4 meters was planned, for which useful equipment parts of the four-axle Reko cars were to be used. Due to changed conditions in the course of the unification of the two German states, there was no longer series production.
According to the principles of the planned modernization, crew vehicles for construction machinery were created, recognizable from the outside by a sheet metal window. Behind it is the self-heating.
However, the modernization program for 73 seated cars has been tackled. From 1987 onwards, they were converted into type BDwsb 270 half-luggage wagons suitable for the disabled . These had a normal seat compartment, a wheelchair-accessible seat compartment, a wheelchair-accessible toilet, luggage space and a widened side corridor. The vehicles are thus a shortened version of the BDmsb, later Bdombs 274 half-baggage express train passenger cars from Halberstadt production.
Some of these wagons were rebuilt from 1997 onwards, this time to the type Bbd 499 . The loading doors and the side aisle partition to the luggage compartment were omitted; instead, pivoting sliding doors were installed at the end of the former luggage compartment car. The cargo space received inclined bicycle racks and folding seats. The wagons initially had a mint-turquoise-light gray paint in accordance with the product colors of the German Federal Railroad of Local Transport at the time, and later they were painted in traffic red. After a few years in Regional Express use , the cars were parked and some of them were sold to Bulgaria , where they are currently used in express train service.
Narrow gauge wagons
The Reichsbahn repair shop "Wilhelm Pieck" Karl-Marx-Stadt carried out the first modernizations of the narrow-gauge passenger car fleet as early as the 1950s. From 1957, most of the cars received a new interior with hard upholstered seats and sheet metal cladding. Plans for a more extensive renovation were initially not implemented against the background of the planned route closures.
A new situation only arose after the government decision to preserve part of the narrow-gauge railroads in 1974. From 1977, the Perleberg works department of the Reichsbahn repair shop in Wittenberge began extensive modernization of the narrow-gauge wagon stock intended for further maintenance. The vehicles received a completely new car body on the old underframes. Inside, the walls were clad with Sprelacart , the seats were designed as a tubular steel frame with hard upholstery. The old lowered windows were replaced by a design that only hinged in the upper third, which came from the Görlitz double-decker car . Because of the different widths of the vehicles, the old roofs had to be used first.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the Perleberg factory department started manufacturing the car bodies in a standardized width of 2480 mm. With the 2 + 2 seating arrangement now possible, the number of seats per car has been increased significantly. Moreover, it was now possible, new roofs in barrel roof shape to use. Wagons of this design were produced in particular for the Harz narrow-gauge railways and the Bad Doberan – Ostseebad Kühlungsborn line. With the few cars from Bad Doberan with closed entrances, these were omitted during the conversion. In the case of the Saxon baggage cars, an end stage was omitted during the conversion.
The last Reko cars were built in the early 1990s for the Weißeritztalbahn . Here, the conversion also extended to the entry platforms, which were completely rebuilt. Some of the wagons also received new translation windows , and the last baggage wagons were again delivered with two end platforms.
The origin of the Reko wagons with new barrel roofs can only be seen on the floor frame, the bogies and the head pieces. The coupling shafts of all former Saxon wagons that were delivered with or converted to Scharfenberg couplings can be swiveled and guided by the bogies. Cars without trusses under the long girders and with Saxon bogies are former standard cars from the 1920s. The wagons from the inventory of the narrow-gauge railway companies in the Harz also received welded new bogies with helical-spring-mounted wheelsets. In general, the wagons were equipped with the KE-P multi-release compressed air brake and most of the wheel sets with roller bearings. The couplings and the electrical equipment remained route and network specific.
See also
literature
- Weigert, Gress conversion and Reko wagons from DB and DR EISENBAHN-KURIER SPECIAL 82 Freiburg 2006
- Eisenbahn-Kurier Topics 34: The DR 25 years ago, EK-Verlag, Freiburg 2000.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rainer Fischer, Sven Hoyer, Joachim Schulz: The wagons of the Saxon secondary railways , EK-Verlag, Freiburg i. Br 1998. ISBN 3-88255-682-X , pp. 144-149