DanMacK wrote:Michael,
IMO, drop the 45 for the Kriegslok (Class 50), if you have a spare ID, you can always throw the 45 back into the mix. I think the 50 would better represent the set though. Then again, I'm biased... the Class 50's my personal favourite DB steam locomotive

Well firstly, the BR50 was never a "Kriegslok" (war locomotive), you´re possibly refering to the BR52. And secondly, there wasn´t only
the war locomotive but there were a full range of them. O/c, the BR52 was the most famous of the "steam war locomotives" class (KDLs, = Kriegsdampflokomotive).
During wartime, the BR44 and BR50 designs were simplified as ÜK (Übergangs-Kriegslokomotive, = interim war locomotive) until by 1941 it was clear that even these stripped-down designs were still too complicated, expensive, time-consuming to build, etc, so new KDL designs were developed, e.g. the lightweight BR52 (KDL-1) and the intermediate weight BR42 (KDL-3).
Apart from their simplified design and cheaper production, those KDLs were especially layed out for the poorly maintained track and the lower grade coal found in war regions in the east (mainly Russia). In addition, because of shortage of water in those regions, many were equipped with a condensing tender.
To be precise, there were 13 series of KDLs:
- KDL-1 was to be the BR 52 (> 6000 units built during the war years 1943 and 1944),
- KDL-2 was to be known as BR 534.0 and to be used in Bohemia and Moravia,
- KDL-3 was to be the BR 42 (844 units built),
- ...
diverse smaller steamers
- KDL-9 to 13 were narrow-gauge locomotives.
Besides from KDLs, there were also 7 series of KMLs (diesels) (e.g. V20 and V36 but also the famous
V188
double locomotive built for the railway gun
"Dora").
In addition, there were 9 series of electrics (KEL):
- KEL-1 (E44)
- KEL-2 (E94)
- KEL-3 ???
- KEL-4 to KEL-9 were narrow-gauge engines.
OK, now to answer your question.
Surely, the BR50 is a very important engine, if only from history: the sheer amount which had been built (>3100 units, with 2,563 still in service with the DB after the war) and the vast number of renown lovomotive builders involved: Henschel, Schwartzkopff, Krupp, Krauss-Maffei, Borsig, Orenstein & Koppel, Schichau, Jung, Esslingen, but also Floridsdorf (Austria), Couillet, Franco-Belge and others (Belgium), CKD, Skoda (Czechoslovakia), DWM Poznan (Poland), etc.
It´s also an attractive engine for some technical details. One for sure is its german equivalent of the American caboose for freight trains: the famous cabin tender.
On the downside, the BR50 is nothing special in TTD terms, neither for speed, nor for power nor tractive effort. Instead, none of the renown benefits of this class could be modelled in TTD, be it its relatively light axle loading of 15 tons allowing to haul fairly heavy freight trains on trackage off the main lines or its good accelaration which made it especially useful on short lines with frequent stops, or its ability to reach its speed of 80 km/h equally well in both directions of travel, i.e., conventional or tender first, circumventing the need for turn tables.
In conclusion, I´m not sure how to proceed. Let´s see.
regards
Michael