Electric Locomotive

Prototype information

Universal and Reliable. After an interruption due to the great economic crisis, the electrification of the German State Railroad's network was continued starting in 1930. New, powerful locomotives were needed for the new routes. The German railroad industry developed innovative concepts and prototypes for this purpose for modern general-purpose locomotives. In particular, the design from Siemens showed clear progress compared to the previous provincial railroad designs that had merely been developed further. This unit was designed as a lightweight general-purpose locomotive and was built on a welded frame, mounted on trucks with integrated buffer beams and powered with axle-suspended motors. Four axle-suspended motors on the axles provided the drive. This gave this compact locomotive a total adhesion weight of 78 metric tons on the driving wheels without the need for pilot trucks and still below the critical 20 metric ton limit for axle loads. The modern motors put out 2,200 kilowatts / 2,950 horsepower, which was available directly at the axles without the need for an expensive gear drive. The maximum speed reached on level track was 90 km/h or 56 mph. The German State Railroad purchased 174 regular production locomotives with seven more units were built new for the German Federal Railroad. These units turned in particularly good results and they were rated in regular service as almost indestructible well into the Eighties.