Freight locomotive with Tender and Brakeman's cab. German Federal Railroad (DB) class 50. With DELTA electronic circuit. 5 axles powered. 4 traction tires. Driving wheels divided into two coupled groups enabling unit to negotiate sharp curves. Adjustable close coupling between locomotive and tender. Standard coupler pocket at the front, close coupler with guide mechanism on the tender. Equipped for installation of smoke generator. Length over buffers 26.3 cm (10-3/8").
The class 50 and the successor class 52 derived from it, represent - along with the American F and GP type diesel locomotives - one of the locomotive designs in the world built in the largest quantities. Over 2,000 class 50s and over 6,000 class 52s were built in several countries in Europe up to about 1950. The success of this design lay in its universal use on all classes of routes. The "Decapod" design with 5 driving axles enabled a high level of tractive effort even with low axle load - the class 50 required only about 15 metric tons per axle.
The German Federal Railroad acquired about 2,000 well maintained class 50 locomotives and used them for freight and passenger trains and even as switch engines. With the modernization of freight service in the 1960s, these locomotives were still productive and indispensable. Hence, 730 units were equipped with a specially designed cab on the tender that make a separate car for the brakemen and conductor unnecessary.
In Era IV there were still around 1,000 class 50s that were taken into the classes 050, 052 and 053 in the DB's computer numbering system. Together with several class 41 and class 44 locomotives, only class 50s lasted to the end of the steam locomotive era. In 1976 they were on average 35 years old, a service life that many a newly constructed electric locomotive from the DB's early postwar period can already boast of.
