Whilst travelling by tram in Dresden we noticed a small locomotive in a builder’s yard near to the suburban station of Radebeul Ost. Walking back we found it to be a 60 cm gauge 0−4−0 side tank (Krauss 8219 of 1925) which belonged, according to the notice at the yard entrance, to the State Building Organization in Dresden (VEB Bau-Union). From the Hainberg - Kurort Kipsdorf 75 cm gauge branch train of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, we noted at Buschmühle another 0−4−0 side tank - this time of 75 cm gauge - named WERKLOK Nr.2.

    Our second centre was Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) where the Wilhelm Pieck Railway Works, better known as Richard Hartmann, produced two 0−6−0 side tanks, WERKLOK 3 and 4; from a distance they appeared to be similar to the Prussian T3 class. But the most interesting sight in Karl-Marx-Stadt was when we were seeking a Bank in the city centre and, taking a short cut between some blocks of buildings under construction, we came across an 0−4−0 side tank (Orenstein & Koppel 12980 of 1937) in use as a stationary boiler; it appeared to be of 60 cm gauge. On the outskirts of the city at Karl-Marx-Stadt, Kappel, we noticed a large works with two 0−6−0 fireless in use and a derelict 0−4−4−0 Mallet tank engine in the yard.

    En route to Bärenstein on the Czech frontier we observed a remarkable wireworks railway of narrow gauge, 60 cm or less. Due to its site in a narrow valley at Wilischthal, the factory has its storeyard some little distance up river, and the connecting railway is laid well below the DR between the river bank and the embankment. A jolly little diesel (or petrol) machine of the ‘lawn mower’ variety was noted on a train of cable drums.

    A day trip to the metre gauge Wuitz Mumsdorf - Gera line of the DR led us through a highly industrialised area near Altenburg, between Leipzig and Gera. At Rosnitz, Teerverarbeitungswerk, were numerous fireless, both 0−4−0 and 0−6−0, bearing strange numbers such as F 35-1-12 and F 36-0-11. Between here and Wuitz Mumsdorf the DR line is paralleled by a metre gauge electrified railway (overhead wire) which is reminiscent, on a less elaborate scale, of the Braunkohlverein near Cologne. This electric line is physically connected with the DR steam branch from Wuitz Mumsdorf to Gera. A standard gauge 0−6−0 side tank, noted at a factory near Gera Süd, completed our observations of industrial locomotives in Eastern Germany.

    (Further information on any past or present industrial locomotives behind the ‘iron curtain’ would be very welcome. If we have any readers in Rosnitz, Teerverarbeitungswerk, they might care to identify the "numerous fireless" locomotives in use there! - Hon. Ed.)

Orenstein & Koppel 12980 of 1937 at Karl-Marx-Stadt (upper) and an 0−6−0 fireless at a works at Karl-Marx-Stadt, Kappel (lower). Both photographs were taken by the author on 11th August 1963, the latter being a risky shot through the toilet window of a passing train!