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In 1931, the DRG ordered ten locomotives from the firm of Henschel that were taken into the fleet as numbers 85 001 to 85 010. The Class 85 was intended for hauling passenger and goods trains. They were however also employed as pusher locomotives on the Höllentalbahn in the Black Forest. Thanks to this engine, the Höllental Railway could do away with rack railway operations from 1933. The running gear and the superheated system were taken from the Class 44. The boiler, with a few minor alterations, was the same as that of the Class 62. All the locomotives were stabled at the Freiburg shed. Apart from number 85 004, which was lost in the Second World War, all the engines were in operation in the Black Forest until 1961, the year the route was converted from experimental electrical operations with 20 kV/50 Hz lines to the usual Deutsche Bundesbahn standard of 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC. One engine, number 85 007, was still in service in Wuppertal until the end of the year, but they were all retired by the beginning of the next year.
Preserved locomotives[]
Number 85 007 belongs to the town of Freiburg im Breisgau. It is not operational, but is maintained by the Bahn-Sozialwerk-Gruppe. The engine is housed in the former locomotive shed.
References[]
Hütter, Ingo (2021). Die Dampflokomotiven der Baureihen 60 bis 91 der DRG, DRB, DB, und DR (in German). Werl: DGEG Medien. pp. 265–267. ISBN978-3-946594-21-5.
Scharf, Hans; Wollny, Burkhard (1987). Die Höllentalbahn (in German). Freiburg: EK Verlag. ISBN3-88255-780-X.
Weisbrod, Manfred; Müller, Hans; Petznik, Wolfgang (1978). Dampflokomotiven deutscher Eisenbahnen, Baureihe 60–96 (EFA 1.3) (in German) (4th ed.). Düsseldorf: Alba. pp. 114–116. ISBN3-87094-083-2.
