German BR 86, anyone know if it was used on the eastern front

[thepureness]

The german loco that was built during the second would war, BR86, I'm trying hard to find out if the type was used during the eastern front conflict of WWII.

Anyone with knowledge of the type able to assist, googling is proving unproductive

[Pete in Lincs]

I may well be wrong, but I was under the

impression that Soviet railways were a

different gauge to the German railways

at that time.

[Graeme H]

Probably not, although the Soviets did have a different guage the Germans changed it to suit their Locos and rolling stock, most of the Locos would have been Long Haul like the BR50 and Br52 types as they needed them to move large quantities.

Not to say that there wasn't a couple there, and the wartime ones were Austerity builds and a bit different

[Patrick Martin]

Follow the German language Wikipedia, lots of neat stuff not on the English version

An excellent article in English on rail on the Eastern front is at

http://www.feldgrau.com/dreichsbahn.html

pm

[Ozzy]

I've found this although it's about the BR 52, it's got a few paragraphs towards the end about the eastern front. As the BR 52 was a large locomotive they would have need somthing that had the power to shunt platformwagen's into positions?

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~khmiska/_derived/br52.htm

A little poetic license, maybe? This is building into a scene from a siding in roumania in 1944, I used the BR 86 as I didn't have the space for the BR 52.

[Bigglesof266]

The german loco that was built during the second would war, BR86, I'm trying hard to find out if the type was used during the eastern front conflict of WWII.

Without any bibliographical reference source other than supposition using common sense applied to technical knowledge in the absence of substantiary evidence to the contrary, yes - and no depending upon your actual inquiry intended by your sentence if figurative rather than literal. OK what do I mean precisely by that. If by "used during the eastern front conflict" (sic) you meant was it used within the Reich to move wagons and material that were destined for delivery the Eastern Front, then yes, with the following caveat.

As you can see, the BR86 is a tank locomotive, albeit with impressive tractive effort abetted by its wheel config. However, you will also notice that its tender is tiny and water tanks similiarly limited in volume. Such locomotives by virtue of their restricted range are not ordinarily deployed as long haul locomotives. The BR86 would certainly have been used to move material within the Reich to assembly points (marshalling yards), but for long haul locomotives such as the Class 50 and Class 52 to deliver to frontal logistical depots over the relatively vast distances (by UK or European standards) involved for most of the conflict's duration.

As for depicting a diorama with a BR86 hauling a rake of entrained Panzers or other war material, I don't think artistic license is necessary as the BR86 would almost certainly have been used to assemble loaded rakes of wagons intended for delivery to the Eastern Front between factory and marshalling yards within the Reich at the very least, and possibly even to marshalling yards or directly to assembly points in the near rear as the front came ever closer to Germany.

Whilst I won't spend the time sourcing to see if there is a verifying reference source to confirm, it strikes me as possible that the some BR86s may even have been relocated in the east for short haul marshalling and or shunting duties.

The Soviets instituted a scorched earth policy from the very beginning, destroying everything as they retreated so as to logistically disadvantage the advancing enemy as much as they could whilst trading space for time. What they couldn't uplift to remove beyond the Urals for redeployment in new centres and factories there, they killed, burned to the ground, blew up, tore up and smashed including their railway lines and locomotives in the particular knowing how important those were to the enemy's campaign given the logistical tyrannies of distance, terrain, time, season and weather. Soviet locos would have been repaired and reinstituted ad hoc in service where operationally (gauge and mech repair) feasable just as armour (captured T-34s, KV-2s) was where possible. But generally AFAIAA, rail lines were invariably destroyed where time allowed more than sectional demo charge or sabotage damage, and TMK they are ordinarily destroyed by ripping through the sleepers with a type of loco drawn 'plow' which coincidently dislocated and distorted the steel rails over which it ran behind itself which had to be replaced, relayed and regauged at the very least to accomodate German locos.

I think a diorama depicting a marshalling rake headed by a BR86 'somewhere within the Reich' would be a viable one which would accomodate plausibility of the historical hypothetical.

Hope that assists.

[bentwaters81tfw]

Been watching a new series on the H2 channel about wartime railways. The BR52 was designed specifically for supplying the Eastern Front as existing locos were not up to the various demands. Apparently Adolph was pro-Autobahn and not a railway fan. It was only the Russian campaign that made him utilise the railways, and they had to be re-gauged. I doubt the BR86 was used that far east.

[modelldoc]

The loco was more used in the eastern patrs of Poland and the Baltic States, not so in the occupied Soviet Union.

Here is the information in English:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRG_Class_86

modelldoc