Open Freight Car GTMK "EUROP" NS

Info about the original

After 1945 the DB had about a third of the almost 20 000 Om „Königsberg“ in its stock. As one of the very first car classes, 2500 cars were reclassified in 1951 and marked with the ownership mark „DB“ and the new name „Om 21“. These cars are the first ones to be added to the Europ pool founded together with the SNCF. Cars belonging to this pool were allowed to be treated by the participating railways as their own and therefore also used on transportation links within the country, whereas otherwise an external car could only be loaded at most in the direction of the home administration. Due to the changed circumstances in the course of the liberalization of the railway in many European countries, the Europ pool was then dissolved. The open freight cars of the „Königsberg“ class district remaining at the DR were in service unchanged until the mid-1960s. In contrast to the DB, a conversion program was dispensed with and only minimal changes were made during scheduled repairs. The Dresden repair shop, the repair shop „8 May“ Eberswalde and the „7 October“ Zwickau were responsible for the open cars. Later the wooden side walls were often replaced with steel ones, the wheelsets were equipped with roller bearings and the brakeman‘s cab was cancelled.