REFRIGERATOR TRAINS TRANSPORTING MEAT FROM THE USSR TO THE DDR

Document Type: 
Collection: 
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
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
January 23, 1952
Content Type: 
REPORT
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP82-00457R009900170003-6.pdf166.3 KB
Body: 
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 25X1 A 25X1 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. 95X1A 25X1 THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION 25X1A 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). 25X1 Approved For Release 2004/01/28 : CIA-RDP82-00457R009900170003-6 25X1 (7) 25X1A 25X1A 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 Approved For Release 2004/01/28: CIA-RDP8 g 457Rq="1700O3-6 25X1 25X1A 25X1 1 -1