DB Class 50 2-10-0

As Fleischmann locos became more expensive it seemed that Austrian manufacturer Roco saw an opportunity to steal some market share and produced an even finer detailed Class 50 at a reduced price.  I couldn't resist this beauty!  It runs as well as its Fleischmann counterparts, albeit on my 6ft test track that I set up in 1995 - now abandoned.  In February 2008 Modelleisenbahn GmbH bought Roco which like Fleischmann had gone bankrupt.  The two brands still compete but share production facilities.


The DRB Class 50 is a German class of 2-10-0 locomotive, built from 1939 as a standard locomotive (Einheitsdampflokomotive) for hauling goods trains. It had one leading axle and five coupled axles and was one of the most successful designs produced for the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
This class was procured as part of the German Nazi party's preparations for war that led into the Second World War. Up to 1948, 3,164 Class 50 engines were built by almost all the European locomotive factories – towards the end as so-called provisional war locomotives (Übergangskriegslokomotiven) and classified as 50 ÜK.
At the end of the steam locomotive era they became virtually a universal class of mixed-traffic steam engine that, thanks to their low axle load could even be employed on branch lines with light track beds. The Deutsche Bundesbahn grouped the locomotives into Classes 050, 051, 052 and 053 from 1968 so that the numbers were computer-compatible.  Some of the class were used by the Polish State Railways as type Ty5.  
Source: Wikipedia