The German Class 41 steam locomotives were standard goods train engines (Einheitslokomotiven) operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB) and built from 1937 to 1941.

In the search for a new, fast, goods train locomotive, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG) in 1934 was attracted by the proposal from the Berliner Maschinenbau (BMAG, formerly Louis Schwartzkopff) for a 2-8-2 (1′D1′h2) engine.

Continued adherence to this instruction would in the end have given the new engine no significant advantage over the Prussian goods train locomotives which were to be withdrawn.

On the valve gear, the normal lifting link (Hängeeisen) replaced the Kuhn slides of the prototypes which were expensive to manufacture.

As with Classes 03, 45 and 50, the 20-bar (290 psi) boiler made of St 47 K steel, which aged and embrittled rapidly, soon caused major problems.

The advent of war increasingly stifled the purchase of fast goods train locomotives until, in January 1941, the existing orders were cancelled completely.

Number 41 018, an operational loco owned by the Munich Steam Locomotive Company, is stabled at the Augsburg Railway Park and 41 113 is exhibited in the Technical Museum at Sinsheim.

The Osnabrück Steam Engine Friends are working hard to restore 41 052 to operational status, after it had stood for a long time as a monument at Osnabrück-Schinkel.

Since the end of ban on steam locomotives, she has provided a comprehensive programme of journeys on the Deutsche Bahn's railway network.

Repair welding did not produce the desired effect, but made the material even more brittle and the danger of cracks developing and boiler explosions was greater than before.

As a result of increasing difficulties the DR had to withdraw over 300 locomotives from service in 1956 which abruptly led to an enormous shortage of engines.

Demarcation disputes, disagreements over the detail of the reconstruction programme and the continued non-delivery of the Reko boiler, delayed the start of work still further.

Only the explosion of 03 1046's St47K boiler in 1958 at Wünsdorf led to pressure from the then transport minister, Erwin Kramer (1902–1979), to get started on the Reko programme.

From 1959 onwards, 80 Class 41 locomotives were to be given the new 39E Reko boilers in the Zwickau and Karl Marx Stadt Reichsbahn repair shops (Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke or RAW).

The second oil crisis in 1979/80, and its effect on the GDR's economy, granted quite a number of Class 41 engines a short return to operational duties.

Göschwitz station, a satellite of Saalfeld shed was the next to send its 41s to the storage sidings in November 1986, and at the beginning of May 1988, Staßfurt (Bw Güsten) parted company with the last Class 41 locomotive, 41 1231, in regular service in the DR.

The Class 41 was the most versatile steam locomotive in the DR's engine fleet and hauled high-profile express and fast trains, as well as goods and passenger services.