Henschel-Wegmann Train
In 1931 it started building express diesel units like the Flying Hamburger and they were introduced with great success from 1933 onwards.
This report envisaged a light, 4-4-2, superheated, tank locomotive with a two-coach unit, whose procurement and maintenance costs were low and which also offered passengers greater comfort.
The locomotive, its streamlining extending at the back over the coal tank, would be able to push or pull from either end of the double-coach depending on the direction of travel.
To meet this new requirement, Henschel designed a 4-6-4 tank engine and presented the resulting project study report on 27 March 1934 to the Reichsbahn head office.
The tapered water tanks gave both driver and fireman a good all-round view of the line and the streamlined shell, officially called a Blechmantel, covered the driving gear fully.
Locomotive 61 002 was given a three-axle trailing bogie, a third cylinder and larger coal and water tanks, otherwise the design and the components were the same as her predecessor.
The Henschel-Wegmann train comprised the following: Externally the coaches resembled the express multiple units of those years.
In order the achieve the desired speed, they were of light construction and were five to ten tonnes lighter than normal passenger coaches.
The Henschel-Wegmann train was initially displayed at the Great Exhibition celebrating the centenary of the German Railways from 14 July to 13 October 1935 in Nuremberg and then went to the Kassel shop for further work.
On 29 November the vehicles were once again in Nuremberg for the centenary parade, where they hosted a visit to the driver's cab by Hitler.
The coaches ended up in the Wehrmacht, where they were initially used by high-ranking officers and, later, for transporting the wounded, after their interior fittings had been removed.
Inspection and licensing for 61 002 was probably carried out around the turn of the year 1939/40, and it was then no longer used in scheduled services in charge of the Henschel-Wegmann train.
After the Second World War the coaches were taken over by the Deutsche Bundesbahn and, in 1954 after conversion by the firm of Wegmann, operated as a train with second class compartments.
Later, following the internationally agreed changeover to a two-class system between 1956 and 1959, the coaches were operated as a first class train under the name Blauer Enzian (Blue Gentian or Gentiana verna), forming the long-distance express service F55/56 between Hamburg and Munich.
It was converted in 1961 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany at the workshop in Meiningen into a high-speed trials locomotive with a tender and the running number 18 201.
In 2002, number 18 201 was completely overhauled in the Meiningen Steam Locomotive Works and has since been in the possession of Dampf-Plus owned by Christian Goldschagg and Axel Zwingenberger.
