Army Field Railway Brigadelokomotive

The Brigadelokomotive was a 0-8-0T tank locomotive built for the German military field railways with a gauge of 600 mm (nearly two feet). It was designed at the beginning of the 20^th century when it became evident that the 0-6-0+0-6-0T “Zwilling” was not powerful enough anymore. The first prototype was completed by Henschel in 1903, followed by a low volume production starting in 1905.

The locomotives had outside frames, outside cylinders and outside Stephenson valve gear. To enable running through tight curves, the first and last axles were Klien-Lindner hollow axles which could be adjusted radially. Later these were exchanged on some locomotives for conventional axles with weakened wheel flanges. With an indicated power of 75 hp, they could haul 70 tonnes with 15 km/h. Due to the limited water capacity of 1,100 liters, additional tenders were built with a capacity of up to 5,000 liters of water and 1.2 tonnes of coal.

Large-scale production only started in World War I, but at a large number of manufacturers. When production was completed in 1919, more than 2,500 had been built. With 789, the largest number had come from Henschel. Second and third were Borsig with 377 and O&K with 359. After the end of the war, they came to a large number of civil operators in many countries. Today, around 100 are still existing all around the world.