Description

The E44 was the first electric engine to be built in considerable numbers in Germany (more than 180 units). It also introduced many technical innovations such as electric motors driving each axle separately. The intended original use of the type was the newly electrified line between Stuttgart and Munich which contains a difficult ramp at Geislingen, but it later also saw usage in all parts of the electrified networks at the time. The formed the backbone of electric traction from the 1930s well into the 1980s. The engines were even considered relevant for the war and were kept in production throughout World War II, although many units were already lost during the war time.

The Bundesbahn had about 120 units available in the 1950s and used them in light freight services and for local and regional passenger trains. They proved to be an essential type well into the 1980s, when they were finally retired after more than 50 years of service.

The engines that had been used in the electric network of mid-Germany (the area around Halle and Leipzig) had to be handed over as reparations to the Soviet Union after the war. Some 50 units were returned to East Germany in 1952, but in a bad shape and severely damaged. Still, they proved to be essential during the second electrification of the network around Halle and Leipzig. In the late 1960s they were removed from fast passenger trains as these were taken over by newly developed types, later these new types also pushed them out of passenger services altogether. Still, in the mid 1980 about two dozen units were needed for freight services, with the last unit being retired in 1991, well after the German reunification.

In the set, this type is an early kind of a universal engine. One can use them for light freight services or for passenger services. One should consider the usage carefully, especially as heavy freight trains may prove to be too much for them in hilly terrain, there you will need something like class E 94.

Images and Screenshots

The Verein Schlesische Gebirgsbahnen, a railway modelling club depicting the traffic on the electric network in Silesia in the 1930ies, has a page on the class E 44. The pages are entirely in German, but the photos should speak for themselves.

A local train hauled by a class E44 in the 1930ies.

By the 1950s the electric engines are painted in green. Such a green E44 hauls a local train.