 |
DR
Baureihe 03
(Electric Powered) |
|
Deutsche Reichsbahn 03 |
 |
Specifications
| Scale: |
1:22.5 |
|
Length: |
743mm |
| Gauge: |
1 (45mm) |
|
Width: |
98mm |
| Radius: |
2m (6'6") minimum |
|
Height: |
142mm |
Price and
Availability
| All Aster locomotives are limited
production. Once sold out they are no longer available although models may still be
available from retailer stock. Factory availability can be checked at http://www.asterhobby.co.jp/price.html As of
August 2003 there are very
few of these left.
Argyle's Aster pricing can be found in the Aster Price List. |
Background
| After the Deutsche Reichsbahn company
consolidated dozens of railway companies in the different German states during the 1920s,
a great step toward further unification was begun with e the design of the standard
locomotives or "Einheitslocomotiven" which would be used on all routes. The
famous BR 01 Pacific was the first to emerge and this mighty express locomotive
successfully replaced former designs from Prussia, Saxon, Bavaria, and Baden. The BR 01
fulfilled all of her designer's expectations - she was beautiful and her performance was
as good as her looks. But hopes for the renovation of the German track system, which was
in poor shape after W.W.I, fell far behind schedule. Some main roads could not withstand
the twenty-metric ton axle loads of the BR 01 especially those in the flat country in
northern Germany. So it was decided to build another Pacific locomotive which would have
an axle loading not to exceed 17.5 tons. Initially, manufacturers were asked to develop a
locomotive with compound expansion cylinders, but as Prussian influences won out, a simple
expansion design, similar to the BR 01, was selected. The main differences between the BR
01 and the new locomotive were in boiler diameter (1.70m instead of 1.90m), thickness of
frame plates (80mm instead of 90mm), and small diameter cylinders (570mm instead of
600mm). Known as the BR 03, she was remarkably sleek. The BR 03 was 8% lighter than the BR
01 and, as she proved to be a fast flier on the track, she underwent many streamlining
trials. A total of 298 examples were ordered from Henschel, Krupp, Borsig, Schwartzkopf
and other German manufacturers, and production finally ended in 1937. The BR 03 family was
badly wounded in W.W.II; only 150 BR 03s remained in West Germany after the war, and even
counting 70 others in East Germany, there were more than one quarter of the total which
never saw their homeland again. While 35 lucky ones survived in Poland, tracing those in
other eastern occupied countries proved to be impossible. During the 1950s and 60s, new
boilers were fitted to the remaining BR 03s in both East and West Germany. With their
performance considerably enhanced by this modification, the BR 03 lived on until the end
of steam railroading in Germany. |
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