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Submitted: April 2, 2010
Image Size: 4.5 MB
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Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 1000D
Shutter Speed:1/200 second
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ISO Speed:200
Date Taken:Apr 2, 2010, 12:42:01 PM

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The Camelby ~ZCochrane

Photography / Transportation

Like everybody, I love steam locomotives, but I also love good stories, and in terms of that, the 199.8 beats just about everything else on the HSB meter-gauge network.

Back in the GDR, trucks were expensive and the narrow-gauge railroad lines in the Harz were still very important for freight traffic. Efficiency was highly important in the rather poor GDR, and the "new" steam locomotives, class 99.23-24 (such as 99 7240-7 here), were no longer cutting it. It was decided to buy new diesel locomotives.

The GDR had already successfully built diesel locomotives with hydraulic transmission of all sizes, including ones for narrow-gauge (for export), but eventually Comecon rules forbade that. The options would have been diesel-electric locomotives from the soviet union, which would have been too heavy, or diesel-hydraulics from Romania. Such locomotives, the class 119, nickname 'Submarine', were already operating on normal-gauge lines, and their service record was horrible. They ended up with one of the weirdest constructions you’ll find: A number GDR-built class V100 (by then called class 110) B’B’ locomotives were fitted with new narrow-gauge C’C’ trucks and modified for narrow-gauge use. Significantly larger than anything else on the system, the new class 199.8 soon gained the name Harz-Camel. And that is why socialism failed.

Today, HSB tries to keep them as far away from passenger trains as possible, as rail fans just hate them. A few of them are in storage, others were sold and now run on normal gauge again, but a small number (now fitted with new engines and other modifications, but still the classic paint scheme) is still needed for work trains and the little freight service that remains. Here, 199 861-6 is resting in Wernigerode.

BTW: I’ve noticed and keep noticing your favs, and I appreciate them, but I’ll collectively say thanks at the end of this series so I don’t spam you as much if you decide that more than one of those pictures is nice.

~BigMikeAtTt Apr 6, 2010

Two cuties

*shenanigan87 Apr 5, 2010 Hobbyist Photographer

Ich glaube diese Perspektive von oben ist perfekt, um die Kameligkeit zu verbergen. Okay, sie wirkt im Gegensatz zur Dampflok immer noch groß, aber immerhin sieht man nicht, wie klein der Unterbau dann wirkt. Und so.

~ZCochrane Apr 5, 2010 Student Photographer

Gute Fotos von den Dingern ist schwierig, da sie meist eher versteckt werden. Danke für das

*GingaTokkyu Apr 2, 2010 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

That diesel quiet familiar...

~ZCochrane Apr 2, 2010 Student Photographer

Yeah, it’s a normal gauge diesel that has been converted to narrow gauge.

*GingaTokkyu Apr 2, 2010 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

I see.

~steamby51 Apr 2, 2010

Hmm, funny I thought they still use the steam engines on freight
if you ask me, with the fleet of steam engines they have, these camels could be completley done away with.

~ZCochrane Apr 2, 2010 Student Photographer

Well, the camels have a higher top speed, more power and are cheaper to run and maintain. Before re-unification, there were actually plans to do away with the steamers instead, but as the line mainly lives on tourism now, they’d be mad to even consider it.

~steamby51 Apr 2, 2010

Well, if you ask me, steam works. and I highly doubt the speed/power thing. Remember the steam weighs more, therefor it can get more traction to put the power it makes on the rails, and there is less of a chance of them unbalancing at high speeds.

~ZCochrane Apr 2, 2010 Student Photographer

What part of these diesels does not work? As for power/speed, the 99.23-24 steamers have 700 HP and a top speed of 40 kph, while the 199.8 diesels have 1200 hp and 50 kph, according to the official HSB homepage. You can argue theory all you like, but the technical data is pretty clear. By the way, the 99.23-24 also have only 47.5 (metric) tons on their drives, while the diesels have 66 tons. There is just no room for argument here.

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