Erika

**Erika** is a German tank locomotive that is privately preserved in the UK. She was taken as a war trophy following the WWI and heavily modified by the British to suit the British loading gauge and for industrial service. She is good friends with Will, even after the war.

## Bio

Erika was built by Krauss-Maffei of Germany sometime between 1908 and 1909 and is one of the well-known "glass case" locomotives used by the Royal Bavarian State Railways. When World War One broke out, she was sent to work as a military transport to the German forces and even believed that the war would end soon, but not for Germany since they were a new nation. By 1915, she grew frightened when shells that appeared to have been fired from warships more than 20 miles away nearly hit her, causing her to become frightened of sleeping in her shed.

Just a year after her near miss with a howitzer shell, Erika ran away towards the Allied line to escape the war but bumped into a locomotive owned by the Railway Operating Division (ROD) and called the closest engine to him. The closest was Will, who had arrived in France under the ROD just a year ago and his own dice with death when a shell landed in front of him, and was ordered to shunt her into a siding out of the way and to block the points to prevent her from escaping to the German lines. Fearing she would be scrapped by the people she was defecting to, Erika simply told the Dean Goods to simply destroy her but Will didn't do it since he wasn't heartless and was reminded of his sisters back in Britain.

Will and Erika developed a trust to each other and Will decided to see if she could be let go since she was actually trying to escape from war instead of scouting for the Germans, but the main locomotives wouldn't allow it and after three months, she was let go, but on the condition she helped bring wounded back to the Channel ports and empty wagons in the same direction. Will mostly helped her with this and when the war finally finished in November 1918, Erika was shipped to Britain with her new friend to find a new life in a new country. Due to her being built to Germany's loading gauge, she had to be modified prior to sale in 1919 and was bought by a steelmill in Northern England, where she worked until it closed in the 1980s.

Will hasn't heard from her since and now believes that she was scrapped in the 1950s when surplus Hunslet Austerity saddle tanks went onto the industrial market and her design was too old to be operated. His theory was proven wrong when the pair were reunited in the 2010 Wartime Weekend, of which Erika is now in private ownership, and made friends with another ex-ROD locomotive, Lizzie. According to her, coming to Britain and making friends of the locomotives of the UK was the best thing she's ever done.

## Livery

Erika is first painted in the normal Royal Bavarian State Railway green with yellow lining, brass numberplates on her cabsides and green driving wheels. Her ROD was simply her Royal Bavarian livery without her plates with her number and the letters 'ROD' chalked in white on her cab.

In her industrial and preserved careers, Erika is painted red with yellow lining and black driving wheels. She has no number painted on her cab and features wasp stripes on her buffer beams.

## Basis or real locomotive

Erika is based on a Bavarian PtL 2/2 "glass cab" suburban tank engine, particularly the later version of the class. 42 of this batch were built by Krauss-Maffei of Munich, Germany, from 1908 to 1914 for secondary route/ branch line passenger duties for Royal Bavarian State Railways. They were nicknamed "glaskastens" / "glass cases" because of their centre-mounted cabs with glass windows all around, resembling a greenhouse or a glass room. Withdrawals for the class began before WWII and the final wasn't retired until the 1950s. Two have been preserved.

## Trivia

Erika is named after a German marching song from 1937, and the Girls und Panzer character 'Erika Itsumi'.

* Oddly, Shane Sowter named the engine after that character, making her the first character with an anime-related name in the series.

Erika is the only visiting locomotive that has no home railway. She is preserved on the reserve of the landlord that bought her in 1983.

Erika has been modified from her original design in order to operate in the UK, including the removal of her air braking equipment.

Erika was originally going to be a slightly larger Bavarian Pt 2/3 2-4-0T. This was scrapped due to a lack of models of that class in the correct livery.

Erika uses two Roco Bavarian PtL 2/2s for HO scale, with the second one heavily modified for her British service.

Erika is revealed to be the one who taught Will the German language.

Erika is said to be equal in power to a Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST. This is false since the Hunslet Austerity has six driving wheels while the Bavarian PtL 2/2 has four, making Erika weaker than the Austerity.

* This's rectified through Erika's modifications to British standards in 1919.

It turns out that Erika had feelings towards a former Caledonian Railway (CR) "Beetlecrusher" that worked with her before the steelmill closed. Both her and the "Beetlecrusher" are owned by the landlord and work on his estate line but isn't seen on screen due to no model being used.