Deutsche Reichsbahn Bauriehe 01 VS JNR C51/C57

[Mr_Alex]

I was wondering if the DRG (Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft) class 01 had a race against the JNR C51/C57,which one would win and a pic of the DRG 01 will be attached below:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/01_046_RAW_Nied_1938.jpg

Edited January 27, 2014 by Mr_Alex

[kvp]

It think this heavily depends on which track they would use to race. The BR01 wouldn't have a chance on the tokaido mainline... Not to mention the two locomotives are of different gauge, size, weight, build date and their design targets were also completly different. You could ask another question, like which fruit is better? Apples or oranges?

 

Not to mention the two countries took a very different path in railroad building. Germany used steam in regular service even at the date of reunification in 1990, while Japan took them out of service in the early 1970-ies. Also while Japan railfans love steam locomotives, most mainlines were electrified around 1956 and they switched to shinkansens in 1964. On the other hand, Germany had a lot of cheap coal and at the same time they were using diesel trains for express mainline services (see: TEE).

[Darklighter]

Germany used steam in regular service even at the date of reunification in 1990, while Japan took them out of service in the early 1970-ies.

East Germany continued steam operation until 1988 but in West Germany regular steam service ended in 1977. In Japan steam main line service ended in 1975. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive#Germany)

So not that different. ;)

[kvp]

Wikipedia:

 

This was also the reason that there was never a real strict "final cut" at steam operations, so the DR used steam locomotives as well from time to time until they merged with the DB in 1994.

1994  :)

 

btw: There was no strict end in hungary either, so officially we still have steam locomotives in the reserve list. Of course nowdays they only run in tourist service. Considering the oldest commuter stock still in service was made around 1952, this isn't a really big suprise. But this is a real problem too for museums, since the newest trains that are already in the museums are actually 60 years old. Everything else, including the v43 electric locomotives built in 1963 are still in use and since there are around 400 of them for a country the size of the Tokyo area, they are not going anywhere soon. The hungarian national railway tends to use everything until they literally brake and there are not enough broken units to make a working one. So often the last ones ending up in museums contain parts from almost every other one in their series. What remains after these rebuilds are usually dumped at the storage tracks behind one of the repair centers. Some trains have been standing behind the Istantelek maintenance center for over 70 years now. On the other hand, the oldest dmu-s still in service are 88 years old and the oldest freight trams are just over a hundred. (and i'm not talking about museum service, they will be replaced when they can not be repaired anymore) And i'm not really sure if the new equipment they are purchasing nowdays (flirts and taururses) will work this long.

Edited January 27, 2014 by kvp