Henschel-Wegmann train

The Henschel-Wegmann Train was a unique passenger express train operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Germany, which ran non-stop express services between Berlin and Dresden from June 1936 to August 1939. Both the DRG Class 61 steam locomotive at its head as well as the coaches were streamlined.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft was increasingly striving to introduce express train services. In 1931 it started building express diesel units like the Flying Hamburger and they were introduced with great success from 1933 onwards. As a result, a serious competitor had arisen for the steam locomotive industry. Moreover, the Reichsbahn had hardly procured any locomotives since the start of the Great Depression. Comparative calculations indicated that steam engines could be more cost-effective than the new diesel multiple units, so the head of the locomotive firm, Henschel-Werke, in Kassel, and its manager, Karl Imfeld, decided to develop an engine that could compete with the performance of the new diesel railcars.

In April 1933, representatives from Henschel and the coach firm of Wegmann & Co. handed a Study Into A High-Speed Steam Train (Studie über einen schnellfahrenden Dampfzug) to the general manager of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, Julius Dorpmüller. This report envisaged a light, 4-4-2, superheated, tank locomotive with a two-coach unit, whose procurement and maintenance costs were low and which also offered passengers greater comfort. In order to minimise air resistance, the whole train would be streamlined and the double-coach rounded off at both ends. The locomotive, its streamlining extending at the back over the coal tank, would be able to push or pull from either end of the double-coach depending on the direction of travel. The link between engine and coaches would be an automatic coupling with brake and air pipes.

...
Wikipedia