They were intended for suburban and commuter trains serving German cities, where they were to replace Classes 78 and 93.5.

As a result, they were allocated to the locomotive depots (Bahnbetriebswerke or BW) at Darmstadt, Düsseldorf and Letmathe.

So there were three different variants of these two-cylinder, superheated steam engines in service with the Bundesbahn.

Class 65 locomotives proved to be exceptionally reliable engines, but they could not be used universally, because their coal bunkers and water tanks were small.

This locomotive is the only representative of its class to have survived in working order and is owned by the Stoom Stichting Nederland society in the Netherlands, having been donated by a German railway museum in 1981.