The DRG Class 86 was a standard (see Einheitsdampflokomotive) goods train tank locomotive with the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft.
It was intended for duties on branch lines and was delivered by almost all the locomotive building firms working for the Reichsbahn.
The most obvious changes were the omission of the second side windows in the cab and the solid disc carrying wheels.
Almost all German locomotive factories took part in building these engines, 775 examples being produced in the period from 1928 to 1943.
Its area of operations was predominantly the routes in Germany's Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge); as a result the first 10 units were given a Riggenbach counter-pressure brake.
However the Austrian engines had some of the most spectacular duties, including working double-headed on heavy, empty, ore trains with a DRB Class 52.
86 1056 met a tragic end in 1989 when she was the last victim of the GDR's scrapping madness and was converted into a mobile steam dispenser.