Austauschbauart
The so-called Austauschbauart wagons were German railway vehicles produced from the late 1920s onwards which had common components built to agreed standards.
The idea was initially used in the field of mechanical engineering, but is now the basis for industrial mass production techniques.
In short, it is a system of common, mandatory, standard production tolerances and fits that are specified for components, based on their function.
In addition, measurement tools and training are needed, to ensure compliance with the guidelines, both during manufacture and as part of quality control afterwards.
Austauschbau has enabled the division of labour and specialisation in modern industry, leading to economic mass production of complex machines, tools and vehicles.
From 1921 all goods wagons with the same or similar functions were grouped into so-called class districts which were the names of German cities, mostly those in which there was a Reichsbahn divisional HQ.
From 1926, the DRG introduced the following additional class districts: From the mid-1920s, in the spirit of such interchangeable component manufacture, the Deutsche Reichsbahn began to use a greater number of standard parts.
The idea was that, by specifying tight production tolerances, to enable the easy interchangeability of as many part as possible both within and between various vehicle classes, in order to make maintenance cheaper and easier.
To that end the Joint Wagon Standards Committee (Allgemeine Wagennormungsausschuss or Awana), as well as the German Institute for Standardisation or DIN, developed the relevant norms.
Of the original 11 types of DSV wagon, eight were standardised into Austauschbau versions and built in significant quantities.
Their role had been subsumed in the meantime by the eight-wheeled rail wagons (Schienenwagen) built in large numbers.
Some of these wagons were equipped with steam heating pipes (secondary letter h) in order to enable their inclusion in passenger trains.
All these vehicles were of robust construction, in contrast with their successors the wartime wagon classes (Kriegsbauart), which meant that they remained in service with both German railway administrations for decades after the war without much modification.
From 1937 the axle base was increased to 6,000 mm in order to give it better riding qualities; as a result the top speed could be set at 90 km/h (secondary letter s).
This flat wagon, built from 1928, was longer and, at 40 tons, also had a higher maximum load than its Verbandsbauart predecessor based on technical drawing A3.
This stable design enabled a top speed of 90 km/h and, from 1943, the maximum load to be raised to 20 tons (secondary letter m).
It had, like the Gl Dresden with a 7,700 mm axle base, a trapezoidal strut frame and very good riding qualities as a result of its short overhang.
By contrast, in several occupied territories during the Second World War, rivetted Königsberg class wagons were built in significant quantities, so that between 1927 and 1941 a total of just under 20,000 examples were produced.
