REFRIGERATOR TRAINS TRANSPORTING MEAT FROM THE USSR TO THE DDR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R009900170003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 27, 2003
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: January 23, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

OLASSIFICATION 11,0
Approved FVr e~ ~se~ - 0457E 9 f80
INFORMATION REPORT CD NO.
'COUNTRY Germany (lhassian Zone)
SUBJECT Refrigerator Trains Transporting Meat
from the USSR to the DDR
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NO. OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES. WITHIN THE,MEANING OF TITLE 18, SECTIONS 793
AND 794, OF THE U. S. CODE. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OEVEL-
ATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECthPT BY AN UNAUTHORIZED ERSON
15 PROHIBITED BY LAW THE REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM 15 PROHIBITED.
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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1, Most of the refrigerator cars used to t ransport meat from the USSR to the
DDR (1) are believed to have been German equipment. In 1950, 634 serviceable
refrigerator cars were available in the DDR. This amount would have been
adequate if used exclusively for the handling of meat shipments ip progress
during the period from 20 September to 1)4 October 1950. However, in April
1951,the. DDR railroad administration rented a sizeable number of refrigerator
cars from Czechoslovakia (2). This would indicate that the number of service-
able refrigerator cars available in the DDR was not adequate for all require-
ments. T is therefore possible that foreign refrigerator cars were also
used for the handling of the meat shipments in the fall of 1950.
2. It is not believed that the number of axles was taken into consideration in
making up refrigerator trains. In the pertinent DDR railroad decrees, mention
was made only of trains composed of 40 refrigerator cars (3). According to
these decrees, both two and four-axle railroad cars could be used. However,,
the bukk of the available refrigerator cars ere t-.,~o-axle cars.
It is hardly probable that the trains dispatched from the DDR to Brest Litovsk
should have proceeded to the USSR after being fitted with Soviet gauge axles.
Only a very small percentage of freight cars may be converted from standard
to Soviet gauge and vice versa. These cars are specially marked. Since the
pertinent decree of the DDR Directorate General, Railroads, does not contain
any indication to the contrary, it may be assumed that meat arriving in Brest
Litovsk for the Soviet occupation zone was transloaded into standard gauge
railroad cars,
)4. The type of meat shipped has not been determird. The fresh meat was shipped
at a temperature of -150 C.
5, From the obsarration, at Frankfurt/Qder, of empty refrigerator cars en route
to Brest Litovsk since 30 May 1951, it is inferred that a meat shipping opera-
tion similar to that of last fall. has again ' been started (4).
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T i PIT
J,
-lo fol__oti'r1 n-': survey 0-1' ' "?roccd il'e: 07t;%1_o ed for the adjustment of r a?
li'O d
car ri=les or the exchange of ''!O. cc, and e !r ?7 8 # 1:1 ] es )
based on a;-i evaluation of all availa1;3* reports ' urnishec previo isly by
.various sourccs, The two procedures employed to avoid the transloading
of goodds, at.Soviet, border crossing points area
Ch ge of :heel sets, This is done by lifting the body of the bar by
means of a crake or jack and then mounting it on wheel sets of the desired
;rau e. This method was already in use before ','Torld Jar II. `"'lie technical
procedure and devices for this met' method were described previ..o:tisly (>) . The
limited number of freight cars which are adjustable in this 1;.ra; are marked
with an r (russisch) follovrinl-g the t r?i~e designation letters, such as Omr,
0r!unr, ?r. Adjustable refrigerator and. tank cars are mar' d in ad., i_tion
by white buffer boxes. It takes a detail of eight workers from 20 to 30
minutes to-change the bogies of a two-axle freight car.
b. VIjustsn-lt of axles. This is done by hydraulically the wheel
c;..: ks on a special axle. This nno dcrn ? et'hoci. has been c;n:>1.oyed only since
l`?r,0. It rcn,.i.ires s;peciallL,- desi{;ned axles and sneci_al Y'aci,_-i_ties
for the sri_I t if of Vie- .mil ftalm. Tec:I}i.cal cctails and drawin,?-s
Ot,
rela.lr?_nf, to the adju t: end of 1;^rey i..r (6), Such
adjustable cars were bui7_ in tl lroad car factories in ".Vein,nr,
)essau, and Amraendorf near Halle, at the Tatra Jeri s i.n zec':ioslovakl a, 1-11 and possibly also :i.n z ungaryr, Exact inf ox'rtation on the length of time
respired for this let d of convort_l_ng Frei;-:ht ca _^s is not ova l' '?le.
'TE'Ver, it is Kiev
Ol it makes less time than the obsolescent
method ci c bcd L : a,;r t a ra ove, detail o. .~i.. to ei, izt men tall
ii ocal.)1y be a"le - o co e t ^ne car in 10 to 15 Minutes,
Tt is believed that the bra l.,- of the ,;ood5 shipped to or from the !",&:? is still
transloaded at the .Soviet border Crossing points. .in es-11 _m:i-'te of the number
of cars that, can be adjusted from :Jovict to standard gauge and vice versa in
a 21i-hour period is not possible('j),..
muted
r
based on the information T?rc'1iouel trans-
have been report i n,' on. No
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