Since the German State Railroad still needed class 99.73-76 locomotives spread across Saxony, several of these locomotives were updated towards the end of the Sixties. On the one hand they were given a general overhaul, on the other hand and that was immediately visible new water tanks and coal bunkers were added which were welded instead of riveted.These locomotive pulled the main load on many narrow gauge lines with high levels of traffic, including the network of the Zittau Narrow Gauge Railroad from Zittau via Bertsdorf to Jonsdorf and from Bertsdorf to Oybin.
Highlights
- Powered by two ball bearing mounted motors.
- Articulated running gear that ensures operation on R1 with a radius of 600 mm / 23-5/8.
- Steam exhaust synchronized to the wheels, in addition to the cylinder steam.
- Digitally controlled: running gear and cab lights.
- Digitally controlled: flickering of the boiler fire in the firebox.
- Smoke box door can be opened with a representation of the interior details and the steam chamber.
- Buffer capacitor included.
This is a model of the narrow gauge locomotive, road number 99 1757-6 (a class 99.73-76 locomotive, former Saxon class VII K) of the German State Railroad of the GDR, with prototypical paint scheme and lettered for Era IV. The most striking feature of this era is the introduction of the computer era on the railroad and the altered numbering of the locomotive with so-called self-check digit after the hyphen of the regular locomotive road number. On our locomotive it is the -6. Another visible feature of Era IV are the gray white warning corners on the window screens of the end windows on the cab.
An interesting historical feature on units of the German State Railroad from the Eighties was the lack of builders plates. On both class 99.73-76 locomotives, builder plates constructed of brass are usually mounted on both sides in the middle of the cylinder block. Since this raw material was rather in short supply in the GDR, the plates were removed and melted. The holes for the plate screws remained visible as is done on our model too. One of the anecdotes associated with the plates was that souvenir hunters or so-called railroad fans took upon themselves the preventive step to save them from being scrapped...
This 51 cm / 20-1/16 model is powered by two powerful, ball bearing mounted motors. The locomotive is equipped with traction tires and an mfx/DCC decoder, which includes many light and sound functions such as headlights that change over with the direction of travel, firebox lights, cab lights, running sounds, a whistle and much more. The built-in smoke generator with steam exhaust synchronized to the wheels and cylinder steam gives the illusion perfectly of a hard-working steel beast. Many separately applied details, cab doors and a smoke box door that can be opened contribute to prototypical authenticity.
