Steam locomotive class 01, DB, with refitted boiler, wheel arrangement 4-6-2. Body plastic, frame die-cast metal, motor with flywheel, drive on two tender axles and via drive shaft on all three locomotive drive axles, four wheels with traction tires. Requires a minimum radius of 415 mm. Total length 275 mm.
The shrouds, the pre-heater, the front platform, the signals, the stack - so much was changed that, without the number, the engine driver himself would not have recognized the 01 after the refitted boiler.
To understand these changes, we need to recall the old DRB days. The 01 and her sisters and cousins (0110, 02, 03, 0310, 04) were great engines, modern and powerful. Before the war, speed was king: there were only two priorities - speed and punctuality.
The timetables were trimmed to the maximum, and man and machine were expected to perform to the limit, and beyond. A point was reached where it simply was not possible to keep up with the timetable - even with the best crews. The term "breakneck trains" became common among the drivers. Small wonder that boiler repairs were often necessary already 6 months after going into operation. As of 1940, the war lead to a radical change that eventually brought the 01s to a standstill: service and maintenance resources were devoted entirely to goods train locomotives. At the end of the war 171 class 01 engines remained in the Western occupied zones, over 50% of them seriously damaged. Six engines could not be repaired. The remaining 165 engines were gradually brought back into shape, sometimes by somewhat unorthodox means. Already in 1945/46, it was clear that many of the boilers were beyond repair and would have to be replaced. However, thanks to skillful craftsmanship, many could be kept running until the early 1960s (some of the boilers were made from the dubious St 47 K steel).
In 1958-60, fifty engines were refitted, radically changing their appearance. The major changes, apart from those already mentioned above, are briefly listed here: new designed boiler with combustion chamber to reduce rust, new ash boxes, feeder-dome removed, pumps, steam regulator, steam cylinder, piston rods, sandboxes, etc.
