Era II is usually described for model railroad purposes as from 1920-1945. Sometimes you will see era freight wagons cars marked "Deutsche Reichsbahn" and others marked "DR" and both types will be listed as Era II. I always thought that wagons marked with the "DR" would indicate East German cars after the war ended. I realise that marking and repainting didn't take place all at once but over time. Would cars marked "DR" be accurate for before or during the war?

Also what does the areas like "Munchen", "Bremen" etc. indicate?

Just looking for a general historical overview on the subject. Thanks!

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

The names such as "Munchen", "Bremen" were allocated to wagons to assist identification by railway employees.
That started in 1910, with the 10 standard rolling stock designs used by all German railroads.
The name idea, is probably a leftover from the provincial railroad systems, prior to 1910.
Each type of wagon was allocated a genus (or two), using town names.

So from 1910, the famous G wagon (covered van) was either Munchen, Kassel, or Cassell and others.
The O (open wagon) was either Breslau or Essen, and others.
It had nothing to do with district of assignment or of deployment.
From 1920, the Deutsch Reichsbahn continued the practice, systematically naming a genus for each series of wagons.

For a full historical analysis of this interesting subject, I wrote this topic last year.
There are also many relevant comments within the topic from user.net members.
https://www.marklin-users.net/forum/posts/t34086-Lettering-on-wagons---ownership---1920-to-1960

regards
Kimball

Here a pic Tom. In this example "Konigsberg". Kimball has already explained their meaning.

Thanks, Chuck

With your picture the name "Königsberg" denotes the type of car. All "Königsberg" are gondolas, all "Oppeln" are box cars, all "Köln" are heavy-load flat cars.