Pro Train: DB Class 50

The class 50 unit freight locomotives built from 1939 onwards with a leading running axle and five coupled axles are among the most successful designs of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. This series was procured as part of Germany's preparations for war. Until 1948, 3164 machines of the 80 km/h fast class 50 were built by almost all European locomotive factories - finally as the transitional war locomotive 50 ÜK. It was operated with various trailing tenders that carried the operating supply of water and fuel. At the end of the steam locomotive era, it became a universal class which, thanks to its low axle load, could also be used on branch lines with a lighter superstructure. They thus replaced the class 58, 52 and 57 in freight traffic. Since the branch line network did not have sufficient turntables everywhere for such long machines, the locomotives were designed for a speed of 80 km/h in both directions. A striking feature is therefore a protective wall with windows at the front of the ten