BRAWA 49627

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ROLE MODEL

In 1939/40, the wagon factories in Cologne-Deutz and Uerdingen both developed a four-axle tank car in lightweight construction. In direct connection, Westwaggon also created the prototype of the tub tender with which the war locomotives of the BR 42 and 52 were later coupled. The development was driven in particular by the military, as it was necessary to transport huge quantities of crude oil and fuels for the supply. In order to make maximum use of the existing steel quota, lightweight construction, as with all types of war, was used to the maximum - as it soon turned out, however, at the expense of durability. Both manufacturers now developed cars with self-supporting boilers. While Deutz left it at headpieces, the Uerdingen design also had long beams made of folded profiles, which were to contribute to the absorption of the longitudinal compressive forces. The main data of both variants were identical: the length over buffers was 12.40 m, the pivot spacing was 6.60 m and the boiler had a capacity of 63 m3. Due to the compact design, this quantity led to axle and meter load problems, so that the boiler could not be completely filled on all routes. Press plate bogies with 2.00 m wheelbase were used as undercarriages. The cars built until 1945 were discontinued at the Wifo and the oil clubs to supply the Wehrmacht. After 1945, various European companies rebuilt the cars in a further developed form, such as Tatra in Prague in 1946. In 1955, SEAG delivered almost 500 Uerdingen cars to the United States Transportation Corps (USTC). Due to the events of the war, many wagons were lost or stopped by other European state railways. The wagons located in the catchment area of the western occupation zones came to VTG, which emerged in 1951 from the former Wifo. In addition, oil companies used other cars as P-cars and acted as the main tenants of the VTG cars. The wagons remaining with the DR remained in the possession of the state railway and were only leased on a long-term basis, especially to the PCK Schwedt/Oder. The last wagons were only retired from the fleet in the 90s and often still served as railway service or station wagons. In this function, they were often observed even after the turn of the millennium.