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E 44
After an interruption due to the great economic
crisis, the electrification of the German State Rail-
road's network was continued starting in 1930.
New, powerful locomotives were needet for the new
routes. In the meantime the German railroad industry
had developed new concepts and prototypes for
modern general purpose locomotives.
This design from Siemens shows clear progress
compared to the provincial railroad designs of before
that had been merely developed further. This unit
was designed as a general purpose locomotive and
was built on a welded frame, mounted on trucks
with integrated buffer beams and powered with axle-
suspended motors. The modern motors put out
2200 kilowatts (2950 horsepower) that was available
directly to the axles without the need for an expen-
sive mechanism. The maximum speed reached on
level track was 90 km/h (56 mph).
The first unit was successfuly tested and placed
into service by the German State Railroad as early
as 1930 as the E 44 001. Additional, regular pro-
duction locomotives with a maximum speed of
80 km/h (50 mph) were ordered immediately, initially
for the route from Stuttgart to Augsburg (with the
Geislingen Grade). The German State Railroad
purchased a total of 174 regular production loco-
motives, of which 45 remained in East Germany
with most of the rest in the West. Seven more loco-
motives were built new for the German Federal
Railroad and several were equipped with push/pull
controls or resistance brakes. The indestructible
E 44 was in regular use well into the 1980s – at the
end as the 144 (DB) and 244 (DR).
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