K5 Railway Artillery Gun

EPOCH3 · #166

This snippet is from a drawing/plan for the K5 train in traveling configuration.
Its a 1938 version but shows that a shunting lok was part of the support equipment
that would have been along for the ride.

Regards

EPOCH3 · #167

Hi - I was looking through a bunch of old files and came across a poor copy of D395/4a which is a description of the K5 electrical subsystems dated 1939. Earlier, there was some discussion regarding the tarp/covering over the barrel and the suggestion that it was related to heating the barrel up in cold weather. That is partially correct. The tarp was used to keep heat from escaping. The actual heating components went directly into the barrel itself. I translated a portion of the text that pertains to the heating of the barrel which you will find below with an illustration to boot . I just thought I would share this since I had never seen this data anywhere else.
Regards
Greg

Translated (shortened text description)
===========================================

The electric heater is used to warm the Barrel at outdoor temperatures of 0 ° C or less. It consists of five radiators which are pushed individually from behind into the barrel. During insertion, these are manually coupled. The electrical connection is made by clamping pieces that a part of the mechanical couplings.

... So that heat is not lost unnecessarily, the barrel must be covered by tarpaulin prior to heating, the barrel casing should be sealed down to the cable passage and the closure should be closed as far as possible.

The radiators are designed so that their power consumption corresponds approximately to the maximum continuous power of the power center. The total heating power is 52 kW, namely:
30 kW for the radiators 261 to 264 and 22 kW for the radiator 265 at constant voltage, If the pipe is brought to the desired temperature, the control is turned off at the gauge, the constant voltage on the generator switch panel 187 switched off and shut down the power plant. Then the radiators are pulled backwards out of the pipe. In front When shooting, the tarpaulin and muzzle seal are removed and the pipe is cleaned with the wiper. For longer firing times (several hours), the barrel temperature must be checked from time to time to determine whether renewed heating is required. The curve on page 28 shows the heating times required at outside temperatures of 0 to about 20 ° C to heat the pipe to 10 ° C.

Operation manual.
Heating up the barrel.
1) Open breech/closure and push connecting cable 266 with the Wischerslange through the pipe. Insert and connect radiators 261 to 265. Cover the barrel with a tarpaulin, seal the barrel as much as possible.
2) Connect connecting cable 266 and 267 to the plug-in device 268 or to the plug-in connection box 269 and place the change-over lever 2 on the directional stand on "tilting".
3) Start power plant.
4) Lay out the speed controller on the gauge until the ammeter 3 shows 80 Amp.
5) Turn on voltage for the radiator 265 on the generator schalttafel 187 and hochregeln to 220 volts. On the ammeter 3, determine if the maximum current setting is 100 amps.
6) Keep the set current values constant during the start-up, so that the generators are not overloaded.
7) After the heating time or heating temperature has been reached, switch off the speed control on the directional stand. Unflush the constant voltage on the generator control panel 187. Then shut down power station.
8) Before shooting, clean pipe with wiper.
9) After a long fire break (several hours), measure the barrel temperature before re-shooting and determine if re-heating is necessary.
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Manuferey · #168

Great stuff !

Emmanuel

rpk4 · #169

Too much, too fast I can't keep up! I'm still back at the rail yards of Civitavecchia.

O'Rourke wrote that once the guns got to Civitavecchia on May 30th they never moved again. With that said, there is a story in whats going on. It looks to me that the Lok is pulling 4 cars including Robert out of the way (or maybe in the shadows of the building?). Unsure of the car between the Lok and the Zubringerwagen.

: 1011.jpg (25.26 KiB) Viewed 3528 times

I think its interesting that both guns are pointed south, can only imagine what it takes to turn them around so I assume they were in a hurry to travel north.

Additionally, where are all the other supporting cars? the big locomotive? It would be nice to get a view of the tracks behind Leopold.

Now to dive in to this new info Greg posted. Thanks!

JB

EPOCH3 · #170

Hi, not specific to the K5 but here is a photo showing the same type of external power generating unit in use on a S. Br K (E) as was shown in use with the K5 (in discussion above).

Manuferey · #171

Very interesting find !

Emmanuel

Andrzej Ditrich · #172

Photos made by vet from 8th Armored Division:

JABIER · #173

Hi,

Two pics from Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-WWII- ... SwKFpdaeuc

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1944-Press-Pho ... SwAKxdOK46

Regards,

Sturm78 · #174

Hi all,

An image from Ebay. In Italy

Sturm78

EPOCH3 · #175

New angle - thx

VlatkoZ · #176

Hi, all.
I'm new here and I have few questions.
On K5 Leopold is showing something like smoke generator. I think that is not smoke generator but heating generator for cannon barrel.
They are mounted on all K5 pictures in Eastern front (with winter camouflage).
I try to make 3d model of ammunition car from K5 but can't find any good pictures how they look or any car dimension. Can someone tell me which car they used? Thank you.