Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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The Big Bang From Bitterfeld ...!
On November 27, 1977 the "Deutsche Reichsbahn" of the GDR had their hardships and troubles
with the scheduled dispatch of the express train D 567 from Berlin-Schöneweide to Leipzig main station ...:
The class 03 locomotive ...
... that is supposed to pull the train is defective and no longer picks up.
So the dispatcher and his staff hang on to every available phone to find a replacement somehow and somewhere.
They finally found what they are looking for in the depot in Berlin-Ostbahnhof: There stands an operational 03 locomotive!
This steam locomotive with the number 01 1516 is actually only used for shunting work (i.e. short journeys) - and only returned from a general inspection a few days earlier from the Meiningen Reichsbahn repair plant.
"Bring it on!" desires the dispatcher - the plan must be fulfilled!
So locomotive No. 01 1516 is driven to Schönweide in a hurry.
The releasing Reichsbahner inform their colleagues at the last moment that the coal and water supplies of the locomotive still need to be replenished - and the dispatcher also passes this on to the two assigned train drivers.
The two train drivers are just picking up the coal ...
... and are already getting pressure from all sides because of the delay - although they can do the least they can for the delay!
Probably in order to alleviate the pressure on them, they now report the complete replenishment of the coal and water supplies of their locomotive to the traffic management - even though they have not taken any water at all.
The machine, which is not ready for operation in this way, is coupled in front of the train - and express train No. D 567 leaves Berlin in the direction of Leipzig with a significant delay and far too little water in the boiler ...:
And now it comes as it has to come ...:
After a while, the water level in the boiler sank so low that the remaining water when braking for the scheduled stop at Bitterfeld station ...
... first runs forward and, when the locomotive stops, sloshes backwards against exposed overheated parts of the heating surface.
The water immediately evaporates explosively! Boiler Explosion!
The machine's boiler shreds and hurls the cab with the two train drivers ...:
At the same time it turns, and the embers from the boiler hit a passenger train arriving on the neighboring track, from which two passenger cars caught fire ...:
The boiler then hits about 40 meters from the locomotive ...:
The designers of the locomotive in question anticipated such a possible boiler explosion - and installed one last safety device in the machines before the bang:
There is a safety bolt there, it is above the furnace and melts when the furnace overheats. Through the opening released in this way, water flows from the boiler into the furnace and extinguishes it.
When investigating the locomotive involved in the accident, it subsequently turns out that someone in the railway repair plant at Meiningen ...
... botched and smeared ("sintered") this safety bolt with lime paste in such a way that it could not fulfill its function.
This is hushed up from the public - only the two train drivers are blamed, who can no longer defend themselves because they perished in the explosion!
They and seven other people who were waiting for the train on the platform in Bitterfeld.
45 other people are injured, some seriously, by flying debris.
The accident in Bitterfeld was the last boiler explosion of a steam locomotive in Germany ...
On November 27, 1977 the "Deutsche Reichsbahn" of the GDR had their hardships and troubles
with the scheduled dispatch of the express train D 567 from Berlin-Schöneweide to Leipzig main station ...:
The class 03 locomotive ...
... that is supposed to pull the train is defective and no longer picks up.
So the dispatcher and his staff hang on to every available phone to find a replacement somehow and somewhere.
They finally found what they are looking for in the depot in Berlin-Ostbahnhof: There stands an operational 03 locomotive!
This steam locomotive with the number 01 1516 is actually only used for shunting work (i.e. short journeys) - and only returned from a general inspection a few days earlier from the Meiningen Reichsbahn repair plant.
"Bring it on!" desires the dispatcher - the plan must be fulfilled!
So locomotive No. 01 1516 is driven to Schönweide in a hurry.
The releasing Reichsbahner inform their colleagues at the last moment that the coal and water supplies of the locomotive still need to be replenished - and the dispatcher also passes this on to the two assigned train drivers.
The two train drivers are just picking up the coal ...
... and are already getting pressure from all sides because of the delay - although they can do the least they can for the delay!
Probably in order to alleviate the pressure on them, they now report the complete replenishment of the coal and water supplies of their locomotive to the traffic management - even though they have not taken any water at all.
The machine, which is not ready for operation in this way, is coupled in front of the train - and express train No. D 567 leaves Berlin in the direction of Leipzig with a significant delay and far too little water in the boiler ...:
And now it comes as it has to come ...:
After a while, the water level in the boiler sank so low that the remaining water when braking for the scheduled stop at Bitterfeld station ...
... first runs forward and, when the locomotive stops, sloshes backwards against exposed overheated parts of the heating surface.
The water immediately evaporates explosively! Boiler Explosion!
The machine's boiler shreds and hurls the cab with the two train drivers ...:
At the same time it turns, and the embers from the boiler hit a passenger train arriving on the neighboring track, from which two passenger cars caught fire ...:
The boiler then hits about 40 meters from the locomotive ...:
The designers of the locomotive in question anticipated such a possible boiler explosion - and installed one last safety device in the machines before the bang:
There is a safety bolt there, it is above the furnace and melts when the furnace overheats. Through the opening released in this way, water flows from the boiler into the furnace and extinguishes it.
When investigating the locomotive involved in the accident, it subsequently turns out that someone in the railway repair plant at Meiningen ...
... botched and smeared ("sintered") this safety bolt with lime paste in such a way that it could not fulfill its function.
This is hushed up from the public - only the two train drivers are blamed, who can no longer defend themselves because they perished in the explosion!
They and seven other people who were waiting for the train on the platform in Bitterfeld.
45 other people are injured, some seriously, by flying debris.
The accident in Bitterfeld was the last boiler explosion of a steam locomotive in Germany ...
