As widely known the first few locomotives had names. The first locomotive in public service in Germany from 1835 was named Adler. The first railway lines were built by privately owned companies. That changed later when many railway companies were taken over or founded by the respective German states such as Prussia, Bavaria, etc.
Different numbering schemes prior to 1924
The fast-growing number of locomotives made a numbering scheme inevitable. Most of the various state-owned German railway companies (called Länderbahnen in German) developed their own schemes, e. g. the Prussian state railways (preußische Staatseisenbahnen sometimes erroneously referred to as the Königlich Preussische Eisenbahn-Verwaltung or KPEV) introduced P for passenger train locomotives (the P8 was one of the most important locomotive types with a total of over 3,000 units built), S for Schnellzug (express train) locomotives (e.g. the famous S10), G for Güterzug (freight train) locomotives and T for Tenderlokomotive (tank locomotive). Basically the numbers were used continuously. As the Prussians also standardised technical standards, some of the smaller companies also used the Prussian numbering scheme or a similar one.
Bavaria's state-owned railway chose a different way: They also used P, S, or G to indicate the train type, but combined with the numbers of driving axles and of the axles in total, separated by a slash (similar to the Swiss system). E.g., the famous S3/6 was a 2'C1' or 4-6-2 Pacific, meaning that of a total of 6 axles, 3 were driving axles.
These various state-owned companies and thus their numbering schemes were retained after German unification in 1871 and kept until well after World War I.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft DRG was founded in 1924 by the amalgamation of the various state-owned Länderbahnen. One of its first tasks was to introduce a numbering scheme that allowed to integrate the existing various pre-DRG classes.
Steam locomotives
For steam locomotives, the system was purely numeric. Every locomotive received a unit number, consisting of the number for the class (in German Baureihe, abbr. BR), and an ordering number, separated by a space. The class numbers 01 to 19 indicated express train tender locomotives, numbers 20 to 39 passenger train tender locomotives, 40 to 59 freight train tender locomotives, 60 to 79 passenger train tank locomotives, 80 to 96 freight train tank locomotives (including switchers), 97 rack locomotives, 98 Lokalbahn (local railway) locomotives and 99 for narrow gauge locomotives. Besides, the DRG constructed the so-called Einheitslokomotiven (unified or standardised locomotives) to renew rolling stock and to overcome the expensive necessity of keeping dozens of different classes with hundreds of different parts. For example, Class 01 was the first class of unified express train locomotive, and the first unit of this class received the number 01001.
Electric and diesel locomotives
In addition, similar numbering schemes were introduced for electric and diesel locomotives, but with prefix letters E for electrics and V (from German Verbrennungsmotor for internal combustion engine) for diesels. For electric locomotives, the class numbers roughly followed the scheme for steam locomotives, e.g. E1822 was a locomotive from the class E18 introduced in 1935. Diesel locomotives received class numbers indicating one tenth of the horsepower rating (according to the original design), e.g. V80001 was the first unit of class V80 introduced by the DB in 1953 with originally 800hp (later re-engined to 1100hp).
Multiple units and railcars
Electric and diesel railcars and multiple units were designated by prefix letters ET and VT, respectively (from German Elektrischer Triebwagen and Verbrennungsmotortriebwagen). The numbering schemes for those were originally derived from the numbering scheme for passenger carriages. However, in 1940 a system using class and ordering numbers, like for locomotives, was introduced for electric multiple units. A plan to introduce a similar system for diesel railcars and multiple units was put on hold due to World War II; in post-war Western Germany (FRG), the Deutsche Bundesbahn eventually followed through while in Eastern Germany (GDR), the Deutsche Reichsbahn continued to use the pre-war system for pre-war vehicles while starting off several new numbering plans for post-war units over the years, thus ending up with a hodge-podge of conflicting schemes for diesel railcars and multiple units until 1970.
IT compatible numbering schemes
Due to the introduction of computers/IT in the late 1960s it became necessary to revise the numbering schemes, as the old numbers could not tell whether a class 10 might be a steam or an electric locomotive without including the prefix letters, which were difficult to process by computers of the day. Another problem was both class and ordering numbers could vary in length under the old system.
The Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) in Western Germany decided to use three-digit class numbers, with first digit 0 for steam engines (the rest of the scheme was basically unchanged), first digit 1 for electric locomotives (scheme for second and third number also unchanged), first digit 2 for diesel engines, first digit 4 for EMUs, first digit 5 for battery-powered EMUs, first digit 6 for DMUs, first digit 7 for rail busses (light DMU) and service vehicles. Ordering numbers were uniformly three-digit as well (shortened or filled out from the previous version where necessary) and a check digit separated by a hyphen was added to the end, resulting in a uniform length of seven digits (including the check digit) for all unit numbers. For the few classes with existing ordering numbers of four digits, such as class 50 (new base class number 050), the class number was extended into unused adjacent numbers 051, 052 and 053, the third digit being the first digit of the previous ordering number. Thus, e.g. the old electric express locomotive E1822 received the new number 118022-3. The new DB system came into effect January 1, 1968 (although the actual conversion spread out over several years) and effectively continues to be in use today.
In contrast, the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) in Eastern Germany also introduced a numbering scheme with seven-digit unit numbers (including check digit), but continuing to use two-digit class numbers for steam locomotives (thus providing for four-digit ordering numbers) and three-digit class numbers for diesel and electric vehicles (which therefore also had three-digit ordering numbers). As a further contrast to the new DB system, the DR decided to use the first digit 1 for diesel and the first digit 2 for electric vehicles (including both locomotives and multiple units/railcars). Therefore, e.g. the DRG-built E44 class was renumbered 144 by the DB and 244 by the DR. To avoid clashes between steam and electric/diesel unit numbers (the space separating class and ordering number being non-significant in computer processing), steam locomotive class numbers in the 10-19 and 20-29 number ranges were reassigned to the 01-09 and 30-39 number ranges, respectively (e.g. the steam locomotive with the old number 231046, built in 1958 for the DR, received the new number 351046-8). This new DR system came into effect January 1, 1970.
After German reunification
After German reunification the DB number scheme was also introduced to DR locomotives (effective January 1, 1992), thus creating some numbers that were used again (e.g. the former Class 120 diesel-electric engine became class 220 (new), with Class 220 (old) already removed from service). Some numbers had to be changed to avoid double numbers, e. g. former Class 211 became Class 109.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn, also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regional railways of the individual states of the German Empire. The Deutsche Reichsbahn has been described as "the largest enterprise in the capitalist world in the years between 1920 and 1932"; nevertheless its importance "arises primarily from the fact that the Reichsbahn was at the center of events in a period of great turmoil in German history".
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany until after German reunification, when it was merged with the former East German Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) to form Deutsche Bahn, which came into existence on 1 January 1994.
Originally, both Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn continued the classification system of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRG) – see also a short overview of the numbering system of the German railways. When UIC introduced a new classification system that could be processed by the computers of the late 1960s, DB did a major modification of their system, effective 1 January 1968. This system is still in use and now includes the engines of the former GDR railways as well.
The DRB Class 50 is a German class of 2-10-0 locomotive, built from 1939 as a standard locomotive (Einheitsdampflokomotive) for hauling goods trains. It had one leading axle and five coupled axles and was one of the most successful designs produced for the Deutsche Reichsbahn.
For more than a century, the Swiss locomotive, multiple unit, motor coach and railcar classification system, in either its original or updated forms, has been used to name and classify the rolling stock operated on the railways of Switzerland. It started out as a uniform system for the classification and naming of all rolling stock, powered and unpowered, but had been replaced and amended by the UIC classification of goods wagons.
The Class 44 was a ten-coupled, heavy goods train steam locomotive built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a standard steam engine class (Einheitsdampflokomotive). Its sub-class was G 56.20 and it had triple cylinders. It was intended for hauling goods trains of up to 1,200 tonnes on the routes through Germany's hilly regions (Mittelgebirge) and up to 600 tonnes on steep inclines. They were numbered 44 001-44 1989.
The German Steam Locomotive Museum or DDM is located at the foot of the famous Schiefe Ebene ramp on the Ludwig South-North Railway in Neuenmarkt, Upper Franconia. This region is in northern Bavaria, Germany. The DDM was founded in 1977.
German Kleinlokomotiven like the DRG Kö II were developed as locomotives with a low weight and driving power for light shunting duties. There were two classes, based on engine power. The Class II were engines which developed more than 40 HP.
Three different types of German electric goods train locomotive belonged to the Deutsche Reichsbahn's DRG Class E 91. In addition to the standard locomotives (Einheitslokomotive) described below there was also a Prussian class that was given the designation E 913 in 1927.
The Prussian G 12 is a 1'E 2-10-0 goods train locomotive built for the Prussian state railways.
The DRG locomotive classification system was developed by the German Imperial Railway Company or Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG), which was formed in 1924 following the merger of the German state railways (Länderbahnen) in 1920. A common classification and numbering scheme was needed in order to organise effectively the four hundred or so different steam locomotive classes taken over from the state railways, as well as new locomotives. This process lasted until 1926. Only then was the final renumbering plan fixed.
The locomotive type (Gattungszeichen) of a German steam locomotive was a secondary classification system introduced after 1924 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) and comprised four parts:
A letter from the adjacent table, that specified the type of locomotive.
A number, usually two-digit, the first digit indicating the number of coupled axles and the second the total number of axles on the locomotive. Tender axles were not included.
The permitted axle load in tonnes was given next, after a full stop separating it from the preceding axle information.
If parts of the locomotive exceeded the loading gauge, this was indicated with a triangle over the axle load. If this was simply a removable chimney fitting, this was indicated with an additional bar above the point of the triangle.
The DR locomotive classification scheme in East Germany in the initial post-war period used the DRG system, consisting of a class number (Baureihennummer) followed by a serial number (Ordnungsnummer). With the introduction of computerised (EDP) numbers in 1970 as part of the UIC framework, the system was fundamentally changed for the first time.
The Prussian T 16.1 locomotives were built for the Prussian state railways as goods train tank locomotives about the time of the First World War. Six examples were also procured by the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine.
An Ausbesserungswerk is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a 'repair shop' or 'works'. It is also referred to as a Centralwerkstatt or Zentralwerkstatt or Hauptwerkstatt. During the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) period between the two world wars these facilities were called Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke (RAW).
The Prussian T 9 was a class of German steam locomotive which included several types of tank engine, all with six coupled wheels and two carrying wheels operated by the Prussian state railways.
A Kleinlokomotive or Kleinlok is a German locomotive of small size and low power for light shunting duties at railway stations and on industrial railways. Most are powered by diesel engines, but Kleinloks with steam, petrol, or electric engines were also produced.
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