Product Features and Details
Model: Each REI Military locomotive undergoes a meticulous and professional hand-painting process, ensuring that each piece is a highly unique work of art. The locomotives are skillfully painted in an authentic wehrmacht grey livery, capturing the historical essence. To achieve a flawless finish, every locomotive is carefully disassembled, masked, and airbrushed before being expertly reassembled for the final touches.
These exceptional models boast a range of features that enhance their realism and historical accuracy. Carefully attached armor plates, which can be easily removed if desired, add to the intricate detailing. The models also feature painted wheels and underframes, weathered boilers, and steel Reichsbahn Eagles adorned with authentic swastikas, paying homage to the era.
For this specific REI Model, the Trix BR 42 with sound was chosen, resulting in an extraordinary piece. Crafted predominantly from metal, this locomotive exudes durability and a realistic weight. It comes equipped with a factory-installed 21-pin digital sound decoder, offering extensive sound functions that truly immerse enthusiasts in the experience. The locomotive features a powerful 5-pole motor and a flywheel thoughtfully mounted in the boiler, ensuring reliable and smooth operation.
The double headlights seamlessly change over with the direction of travel, enhancing both functionality and authenticity. Both the headlights and smoke unit (sold separately) can operate in both analog and digital modes, providing flexibility to suit individual preferences. Additionally, the model includes cab illumination and NEM close coupler pockets, further contributing to its overall realism and versatility.
Highlights:
Completely new tooling.
Finely detailed metal construction.
Factory Installed 21-pin digital sound decoder
Partially open bar frame with mostly open view between the frame and the boiler.
High-efficiency propulsion with a flywheel, mounted in the boiler
Prototype: The BR 42 was one of the three main classes of the so-called German War Locomotives (Kriegslokomotiven), the other two being class BR 50 and BR 52. The BR 42 was a Heavy Freight Locomotive which appeared during World War II. In the early 1940's the Reichsbahn was in need of a third war locomotive with an 18 metric ton axle load for use on lines in East Europe and Russia. Two projects were finally favored from the 20 project suggestions for this so-called "Third Wartime Steam Locomotive" The DRB ordered five thousand BR 42's, they ordered 2,500 locomotives with stay bolt boiler and a bar frame, 1,150 locomotives with a Brotan boiler and a sheet metal frame, and 650 locomotives with a Brotan boiler and a condensation tender. Henschel delivered the first two units in 1943 with a Brotan boiler locomotives 42 0001 and 42 0002. Schwartzkopff built the first locomotive with a stay bolt boiler in 1944 locomotive 42 501. The class 42 units were a completely new design compared to the predecessor class 52 wartime locomotives derived from the class 50. Externally they had the simple construction of the wartime locomotives with an enclosed cab and only one side window, simple "Witte" smoke deflectors, and solid wheels on the pilot truck. Yet they offered a striking appearance with the lanterns built into the cylinder block and the short running boards falling to the cylinders. The dome arrangement and the dome sheathing was also unusual. The originally five thousand planned quantities were not achieved because of the war. The industry delivered all total 865 of these 80 km/h 1,800 horsepower units. Subsequent production after World War II in Poland and Vienna-Floridsdorf increased the quantity in the end to 1,063 units. In the western zones, there were still 701 locomotives left, many of them not operational however. The DB distanced itself rather quickly from them. The last was put into storage on March 27, 1956. Yet with the incorporation of Saarland in 1957, class 42 units came back to the DB roster. Up until October of 1962, they were used mostly in the greater Saarbrücken area to pull ore trains and in heavy pusher service. In the neighboring country of Luxembourg road number 5519 (planned as 42 2718, built in 1948 in Vienna-Floridsdorf) is still in existence as the last operational unit of this class and it is used for special runs under steam
