German Reichsbahn class 99³²

The class 99³² was procured in 1932 for the “Molli” spa railway between Bad Doberan and Kühlungsborn with a gauge of 900 mm in order to cope with the increasing volume of traffic. The construction was based on the principles of standard locomotives in the relatively rare gauge of 900 mm. The locomotives are characterized by the fact that they are among the fastest narrow-gauge steam locomotives in Germany and the last of the four was only completed in 2009.

Like all standard locomotives, the 99³² was superheated, while most narrow-gauge locomotives at that time still ran on saturated steam for the sake of simplicity. This increased efficiency and made the locomotive one of the most powerful on the narrow gauge. A difference to the standard locomotives was the plate frame instead of a bar frame. Since they were to be used in the lowlands, the locomotives were designed for a speed of 50 km/h, even if the line only permitted 40 km/h. Even the class 99³³ locomotives, which were only procured in GDR times, could not surpass their tractive effort and were even slower.

The three locomotives originally built by Orenstein & Koppel have survived the times and are still in regular use today. Even of their successors from the fifties, only one is still in use today, which is also used less for regular service. From the 1990s, they were modernized in several stages, and today some of the originally riveted parts are now welded. These include new boilers and frames.

Since the conversion to computer numbers from 1970 onwards, the locomotives have been given numbers that, strictly speaking, no longer belong to the 99³² range. They were originally numbered 99 321 to 99 323 and then became 99 2321 to 99 2323. In order to increase the capacity of the line, the Meiningen steam locomotive works was ordered to build a fourth locomotive in 2008. It received all the improvements that its sisters have had over the years and was ready for service in 2009 as the first newly built steam locomotive in Germany for 50 years. It was given the number 99 2324.