The DRG Class 24 steam engines were German standard locomotives (Einheitslokomotiven) built for the
Deutsche Reichsbahn between 1928 and 1939 to haul passenger trains.
History
These engines, nickname the 'prairie horse' (Steppenpferd) were developed specially for the long, flat routes in
West and
East Prussia. 95 examples were built by the firms of
Schichau,
Linke-Hofmann and others. The two units with operating numbers 24 069 and 24 070 were supplied by
Borsig with a medium pressure
boiler. These locos ran with a boiler
overpressure of 25 bar (25.5 kgf/cm2; 363 psi), but were rebuilt by DB in 1952.
The
Deutsche Bundesbahn took over 38 locomotives and retired them by 1966. The last one with the DB was locomotive number 24 067, which was stabled in
Rheydt and taken out of service there in August 1966. The engines were given operating numbers 24 001 to 24 095.
Engine numbers 24 002, 004, 009, 021 and 030 were left with the
DR after the
Second World War. They were all stabled in
Jerichow shed in 1960 and their sphere of operations until 1968 was the branch line network of the
Kleinbahn AG in
Genthin. No. 24 009 was re-numbered in 1970 to 37 1009 and was used as a reserve breakdown engine in
Güsten and
Stendal. In 1972 it was sold to the
West German railway magazine Eisenbahn-Kurier.
Thirty-four locomotive remained in Poland after the Second World War, where
PKP classified them as Oi2. They served until the last one was withdrawn in 1976. One of the preserved locomotives in Germany, no. 24 083, had been in service in Poland.
The locomotives were equipped with 3 T 16 and 3 T 17
tenders.
Four Class 24 locomotives have been preserved: three in Germany (24 004, 24 009 and 24 083), and one in Poland (Oi2-29).
Klaus-Detlev Holzborn (2015): Der Sonderling 24 061. In: Eisenbahn-Magazin. Nr. 7, ISSN 0342-1902, S. 14.
Wenzel, Hansjürgen (2012). Die Baureihe 24. Die kleinste Einheits-Schlepptenderlok (in German). Freiburg: EK-Verlag.
ISBN978-3-88255-124-2.
Weisbrod, Manfred; Müller, Hans; Petznik, Wolfgang (1976). Dampflokomotiven deutscher Eisenbahnen, Baureihe 01–39 (EFA 1.1) (in German) (3rd ed.). Düsseldorf: Alba Buchverlag. pp. 184–187.
ISBN3-87094-081-6.