Slight correction, Kriegsloks have not appeared on these pages, Kriegsloks are class (Baureihe - Br) 52, what has appeared here are Br50, these were built before the war and a lot during the war and were simplified during that confict.
Very few Br52 survived in West Germany after the mid 50's, they were basically knackered and only built as a war machine; East Germany however kept theirs going much longer and rebuilt quite a few into the 52.80 class which lasted until the very end of steam.
In short the 52 is a utilitarian 50, much like a WD 8F is to a LMS 8F, however, lots of 50's were cut back and lightened as well, a sort of half way 50-52 hybrid.
What throws a lot of people is the class 50 when computer numbers became operational, with over 3500 engines the system could not cope with numbers above 999, or more correctly seven digit engine numbers, so the class was split up. The primary issue was West Germany's use of a prefix to the class number, 0 for steam, 1 for electrics, 2 for diesels and 3 for shunters. Example 50 1234 could not become 050 1234 but instead became 051 234.
The class 50 were broken down as thus :-
50 0001 - 0999 became 050 001 - 999
50 1000 - 1999 became 051 001 - 999
50 2000 - 2999 became 052 001 - 999
50 3000 - 3500 became 053 001 - 350
Many people see the 052 number and think it's a Krieglok, it's not, it's a 50 from the 2000-2999 batch.
One other foible with the 50 is that they were not built in chronological order, you would think that 0001 was the original factory design and 3500 the ultimate utilitarian war build, not so, the engine numbers were allotted in contract batches, but the factories did not all build at the same rate, therefore slower factories allocated early contracts could end up building later designed engines but with early numbers. Unraveling the 50 and 52 classes is a life times work.
In closing, the model is 1:35 scale, which is a shame as with some modifications they would make nice 1:32 working models.
Places well worn anorak back in cupboard front and centre
