ESU 31570/-1/-2/-4/-5 - V100 - DB (ÖBB) - DC/AC - Engineering Edition

As the little sister of the twin-engine V200, the DB developed the single-engine V100 for light line traffic. Both had a diesel-hydraulic power transmission in common. The V100 was included in the model programme in 1955. With its retracted front, it promised easier maintenance, safer stopping for shunters and, with its 1,100 hp, sufficient reserves for use on branch lines. The engine system and the transmission had already been tested in the V200.0 series built from 1956 onwards, and some teething problems had been solved when the six pre-series V100s were ready for test runs in 1958. After these had been completed and various design changes had been implemented, series delivery of the V100 008 took place. The DB purchased 364 units of the 1,100 hp locomotive, later known as the V100.10. In the meantime, the Maybach MD 650 diesel engine with 1,100 hp had been replaced by the 1,350 hp Mercedes twelve-cylinder MB 835 Ab on the V100 006. Initially, however, the weaker MB 820 Bb and MD 650 were installed. However, because the operational service required more powerful locomotives, the DB purchased 370 units of the 1,350 hp version from 1962 onwards, classified as the V100.20 series (later BR 212). This differs from the V100.10 (later BR 211) mainly in its longer front with a modified cooling system. Because the V100.10 often operated at its performance limit, reliability decreased and therefore the engine was replaced on a large scale from 1970 onwards by the more powerful MTU-12V 652 TA10, which had already proven itself ex works in the V100.20 since 1962. In the 1980s, about a third of the 211s had the more powerful engine. A striking feature were the snowploughs, which (temporarily) transported about 140 of the 211s and 120 of the 212s. 55 locomotives of the 211 and 230 of the 212 were equipped with push-pull and multiple traction control. More than 150 units of both types that had been withdrawn from service by the DB were put into service in France and another 50 or so in Italy. The Austrian ÖBB combated a temporary shortage of locomotives with 34 units of the 211 type, classified as BR 2048, and used them until 2004. Today, numerous units of the 211, 212 and 213 types can also be found with private railway companies in Germany.