German Federal Railway class 65

The second tank locomotive within the new construction program of the Bundesbahn was a locomotive with the 2-8-4T wheel arrangement, which was intended for passenger and freight trains on shorter distances within urban areas. The maximum speed of 85 km/h was sufficient for this area of service and with an axle load of almost 17 tonnes, it could also be used on many secondary lines. Production comprised 13 engines in 1951 and five more between 1955 and 1956. The last seven were factory-equipped with push-pull controls and were intended for the Ruhr Valley Railway between Düsseldorf and Essen.

Technically, they corresponded to the other new-build locomotives of the Bundesbahn, i.e. they had a welded high-performance boiler and a fully enclosed cab. During the construction period there were some adjustments to the design. A surface preheater was used on the engines of the 1951 series and a mixing preheater on the later ones. Improvements were also made to the chassis in terms of running characteristics and the water tank on the later engines was no longer welded to the cab, as this had led to problems.

If you compare the reserves with the somewhat heavier 65¹⁰ of the Reichsbahn, it is noticeable that the coal capacity here was only 4.8 tonnes compared to nine tonnes for the Reichsbahn locomotive. This limited the operational area of the locomotives from the Bundesbahn, since the range was too small for many applications. As with all new build steam locomotives, the service life was very short. As early as 1966 the first ones were retired and number 65 018 was the last in 1972. This is kept operational in the Netherlands today.