V60 Ernie

There are a lot of cases in the german postwar history where a locomotive, DMU or carriage class basically exists twice. Both parts of Germany wanted to replace the same types of steam engines pulling the same types of wagons over lines that were operated mostly the same. This leads to the fact that there is a number of vehicles that are distinct constructions, but do more or less the same and look rather similar. Normally, the GDR version is (although internationally competitive) the one that was constructed later and is technically less advanced, again proving the superiority of socialism... By the way, today the GDR would have had it's 59th anniversary, so let's celebrate that it didn't!

This locomotive, these days known as class 345, hat in the times of DR (the railroad of the GDR) the name V60, which makes it obvious that it was the east-german equivalent of the west german V60, here photographed by classictrains. DR decided on four instead of three axles, but the rest, down to the transmission using a dummy shaft and coupling rods, is the same concept. This specimen has the name "Ernie" and, together with it's sister engine "Bert", is used for shunting in Hildesheim central station for DB AutoZug, a division of DB that offers train journeys on which you can take your car along to a lot of european destinations.

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