Description

In the early 1970s it became obvious that the number of available class E 94 units in East Germany was not enough for the rising transportation needs, especially as the engines were already quite old by then. The types that had been developed during the the early 1960s were not suitable for heavy freight services either. This resulted in the development of the "energy container", as the engine was quickly dubbed due to the very practical design. Between 1977 and 1984, more than 270 units were put into service.

In East Germany, they were used to haul just about any heavy train, be it a freight train or an express train. After German reunification the class number was changed from 250 to 155 and it was put into the freight transportation department. In the following years they saw usage with heavy freight trains all throughout Germany. Retirement was briefly discussed around the millennium, but with the engines being the only ones left with six axles and the corresponding high tractive efforts, it proved to be irreplacable for the time being. It took another ten years to see a reduction in services, the last units were retired by Deutsche Bahn in 2019. Still, many units were taken over by other companies, so there are still units in service on the German network.

This type is extremely powerful for heavy freight duties for e.g. coal and iron ore, arguably the best in the whole set. As such, it is a prime candidate to replace older class E 94 units. With the comparably high top speed one can even use them on lines where they have to run in between local traffic.

Images and Screenshots

The BR 155 (back then designated as BR 250) was in service with the Reichsbahn of East Germany. Therefore the livery with dark red is different from all the blue-cream standard liveries used at the time by the West German Bundesbahn.

After German reunification the type gets a new livery to match the rest of the fleet. So here we have a freight train with a BR 155 in red.