DRG Class E 44

The class E 44 is a type of electric mixed-traffic locomotives built for Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) from 1930. There are two technical different subclasses, the E 44.0 and the E 44.5.
01E 44.0
One prototype numbered as E 44 001 was built in 1930 and further 175 units with the numbers E 44 002 to 175 and E 44 178 were built until the end of the Second World War. Eleven locomotives were ordered by Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and delivered between 1950 and 1955 as E 44 176 and 177 and E 44 179 to 187. Two were rebuilt from E 244 prototype locomotives in 1963 and 1965 as E 44 188 and 189. Now DB had 125 units in service. Until 1960 Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) repaired 46 locomotives they got back from the Soviet Union. In 1968 DB reclassified its E 44 locomotives to 144 and E 44W locomotives, equipped with rheostatic braking, to 145. In 1970 DR reclassified them to 244. The last locomotives were retired by DR in 1991. Nineteen locomotives with the numbers E 44 001, 002, 044, 045, 046, 049, 051, 084, 103, 108, 119, 131, 137, 139, 143, 146, 148, 150 and 170W have been preserved.
02E 44.5
One prototype and another eight E 44.5 locomotives were put into service between 1931 and 1935 as E 44 101 to 109 and renumbered E 44 501 to 509 from 1938. They were technical different from the E 44.0 and were intended for the Bad Reichenhall to Berchtesgaden railway line and mainly used their until its withdrawal by DB in 1983. Two locomotives with the numbers E 44 502 and 508 have been preserved.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “DRG Class E 44”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- 244 103-8, Germany, Thuringia, Railway Museum Weimar (Former depot Weimar) (Trainpix 151337).jpg by Diesellokophren, CC0
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