Product Features and Details
Model: The new Piko BR03 is a very impressive model with exceptional running performance, new innovations, and extensive detail. The Model features finely detailed and fully functional Heusinger valve gear, finely filigreed spoked wheels, prototypical "daylight" between boiler and chassis, and more. The five-pole PIKO motor and precisely balanced flywheel ensure excellent driving characteristics. It also comes with a PluX22 factory-installed sound decoder, full cab interiors with flickering smoke box lighting, intricate and prototypical boiler details, illuminated running board lights, cab illumination, and much more. The BR03 is fitted with the new Piko 5.1 smart decoder which has so many functions including load dependency and power management. The decoder controls the built-in smoke unit which manages smoke production. If the locomotive is at a standstill, a shallow cloud of steam is emitted. When running on inclines, the maximum steam is produced just like the real thing, when less load is required the steam production decreases. When idling or driving downhill, the steam output is less only a small amount of steam is produced. The model also has white LED headlights and red LED tail lights that coordinate with the direction of travel.
A striking characteristic of the locomotives in the PIKO Expert Plus range is the modern technical design and the attention to detail. The model has all the usual standards for the PIKO Expert Plus model and more. Piko locomotives are among the best models on the market today, the detail and running performance are remarkable and all models are offered at competitive prices. Add a Piko locomotive to your collection today!!
Model Details:
- Minimum Radius 358mm
- Coupling: NEM Pocket
- Factory Installed 5.1 Sound Decoder
- Cab Illumination
- Flickering LED Smoke Box Illumination
- Directional lights: White/Red Directional Change
- Synchronized Dynamic Smoke Unit
- Illuminated Running Board Lights
Prototype History: The first plans of the DRG for standard-design locomotives foresaw only the steam engines BR 01 and BR 02. Both locomotives were meant for fast mainline express service, designed for trains with an axle load of 20 tons. The problem that the DRG ran into was that many of the routes were not suitable for trains that heavy. Rebuilding these routes would have taken too much time and money. After this realization, the DRG encouraged the locomotive manufacturers to build express steam engines with an axle load of 17.5 tons. With these specifications, the BR 03s were introduced. The BR 03s quickly replaced the old BR 17s (Prussian S10 family) and the BR 18s (Bavarian S3/6 family). The BR 03s were originally designed as four-cylinder steam engines, but the DRG finally chose the favorable two-cylinder version. Borsig delivered the first three prototype locomotives on July 8th, 1930. These locomotives had a boiler pressure of 14 bar and a cylinder diameter of 600 mm. When the BR 03s went into mass production they changed the boiler pressure to 16 bar and the cylinder diameter to 570 mm. From 1930 until 1938 two hundred ninety-eight steam engines of the series 03 were built and delivered by manufacturers Borsig, Henschel, Krupp, and Schwartzkopff. The design and performance were excellent and modifications to this series were minimal. These modifications included; the replacement of the brass firebox with iron, relocating the air pumps, and fitting them with 1000mm carrying wheels instead of old 800mm wheels. Apart from these modifications of the BR 03, different experiments were done on other versions of the 03 locomotives. One type of locomotive was the 03 154 which became partly streamlined and got a parabolic smoke box door. Another type was the 03 193 which was streamlined like the BR 05. And lastly, the 03 204 was only streamlined at the driving wheels. The BR 03s were a classic German Locomotive design and were considered by many locomotive enthusiasts as one of the premier German Express Locomotives. After World War II thirty-five BR 03 Pacifics went to Poland as war reparations, along with ten streamlined 03.10s. The Polish PKP Railroads re-classified them as Pm2. Locomotive number 34, can be seen at the railway museum in Warsaw.
