Covered Freight Car Glmehs50 DB

Info about the original

Based on the UIC standard coach Gmhs 53, DB developed a 2-m longer waggon which otherwise complied with the UIC requirements in all its equipment features. Unlike its predecessor, it already had the newly standardised 2-m-wide loading door. At the time, UIC was not able to agree on a larger standard design, so this emerged only later in the form of the Glmms 61. Therefore, the waggon - designated Glm(e)hs 50 - was only a little longer than the pre-war large-capacity covered freight cars, which caused a great deal of controversy even at the time of construction. Even then, there were demands for a waggon with a loading length of at least 12.5 m, which meant the enlargement of the loading space did not go far enough for many customers, while others considered the waggons were too far removed from UIC requirements. Despite all these issues, some 12,000 waggons were built from 1953 – 1958 – up to 1954 with board walls, then with plate walls. Some one quarter of all waggons were fitted with a handbrake, at first with the characteristic sheet metal brakeman's cab. At least 700 waggons featured electric heating so that they could compete in express goods traffic in passenger trains. Some waggons were rented long-term and painted with advertising of the renting company. By the mid-seventies, the waggons with board walls had been decommissioned or upgraded with plate walls. Since 1965, the Glm(e)hs 50 were designated Gbrs(-v) 245, in 1980 after the heating pipes were mostly removed, they were renamed Gos(-uv) 245. Then, in the 80s, the inventory started to be reduced, although larger inventories were sold to DR In 1997, 35 waggons were still in the inventory, and the last three were taken out of service in 2000.