Information About The Prototype - Märklin BR 53 Bedienungsanleitung

Information about the Prototype

After a short bidding process the German State Rail-
road gave out contracts in 1943 for the development
of one of the last and for the times even utopian
projects: a super heavy duty, fast freight locomotive
for long distance operation over difficult terrain. The
design put forward by Borsig envisioned a Mallet
type articulated locomotive with 4 cylinders. With an
output of almost 3,000 horsepower and an axle load
of under 20 metric tons, it would have reached speeds
of 80 km/h (50 mph) forward and reverse, even on
substandard roadbed, and could have pulled a train
1,700 metric tons up grades as steep as 8 ‰ at
20 km/h (approx. 13 mph), even on curves with a
radius as small as 360 meters (1,181 feet). Borsig's
engineers were unable to prove these theoretical
output figures; a working prototype was never finished.
At the end of 1943 at least the running gear, the
frame and the boiler was supposed to have been
built for the first giant locomotive (see the Märklin
catalog for 1988/89, page 12/13), the large tender
was, however, was still totally lacking. Surely the
construction of such a prototype had to assume
a lower priority behind the ongoing production of
locomotives. At this time the heavy class 42 locomo-
tives and chiefly the versatile class 52 locomotives
were practically the only units still being built in
Germany in any quantities. In fact, Borsig had
suffered so much war damage in Berlin, that regular
production was no longer possible – in 1944 just
2 Borsig locomotives were built to completion.
The orders in process were finally moved for the
most part to Henschel in Kassel, as well as much
still usable machinery and material.
This created new possibilities for the project for this
large Mallet locomotive. In place of the planned high-
capacity tender, the immense requirements for water
produced by the locomotive's 4 cylinder could have
been covered by the existing Henschel type 3'2'T16
condensation tender. In addition, the condensation
process would have enabled a synthesis of high
power output and relative economy with this super
large locomotive. However, the "53" was not con-
verted into a condensation locomotive; there is no
evidence of the corresponding design changes in
this secret project. Presumably any further work and
thought on the project were finally stopped, when
there were no more 5-axle tenders available after the
complete delivery of the first series of class 52 loco-
motives, and when the subsequent locomotives built
were equipped with type 2'2'T13,5 tenders that
were too small for the Borsig locomotive.
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