Wehrmacht Locomotive WR 200 B 14

The WR 200 B 14 was the smallest of the standard Wehrmacht locomotives and, with 129 units, not quite as common as its three-axle sister. The designation stands for “Wehrmachtslokomotive standard gauge, 200 hp, wheel arrangement B, 14 tonnes axle load”. It is also known under the designation V 20, which it received from the two German railways after the war. The locomotives were never used by the Reichsbahn before the end of the war because they were directly assigned to the Wehrmacht.

Characteristic of her appearance was the driver's cab at the rear end and the high hood, which contained all the machinery and was provided with several flaps for access to the engine room. Compared to the later V 36, the body was lower overall and the entire two-axle locomotive was over a meter shorter. Various six-cylinder in-line engines from Deutz, the Mannheim Motor Works or MAN provided the drive. The power was transmitted via a hydraulic transmission to a jackshaft between the axles, which in turn drove the wheel sets via coupling rods. A coke oven was installed for starting at low temperatures.

After the war, not many examples made it into state railway service and only 23 locomotives remained in service with the Bundesbahn, four with the Reichsbahn and one with the ÖBB. While the DB only removed the coke ovens, the DR machines got new engines with the same power. Today some are still preserved and partly also operational.