Trix 22986 - Class 043 Steam Locomotive
Prototype: German Federal Railroad (DB) class 043 heavy freight locomotive, with a type 2´2´T34 standard design oil tender. Black/red basic paint scheme. Cab with two side windows, with standard version Witte smoke deflectors, pilot truck wheelset with spoked wheels, without smokebox door central locking, with inductive magnets on both sides. Road number 043 087-6. The locomotive looks as it did around 1971.
The type Fad 155 "Erz IIId" four-axle hopper cars for transporting iron ore to go with this locomotive can be found under item number 24150 as a set with 6 different car numbers in the Trix H0 assortment. Another 12 cars with different car numbers can be found in the Märklin H0 assortment under item number 46213, with information about the necessary DC wheelsets.
Especially intricate metal construction.Digital decoder and a variety of operation and sound functions included.Partially open bar frame and a mostly open view between the running gear and the boiler.High-efficiency propulsion with a flywheel, mounted in the boiler.Ideal steam freight locomotive for unit trains with the "Erz IIId" hopper cars.
It was an impressive sight when two class 44 Öl (starting in 1968: 043) heavy freight steam locomotives were double-headed to pull the ore trains "Langer Heinrich" / "Long Henry" with up to 4,000 metric tons load up to 80 km/h / 50 mph from Emden in the direction of the Ruhr Area or Saarland. This use of these oil-fired units was the high point for many years of heavy freight service on the DB and can now be reproduced on a model railroad. Starting in 1955, the DB had 32 class 44 locomotives equipped with oil firing, which allowed an increase in performance of around 190 horsepower. By the end of steam motive power on the DB in October of 1977, the last class 043 units were in use at Rheine and Emden.