The 56 units of this class were specifically intended for the Halle (Saale) - Leipzig line and for routes in southern Germany.

The engines were delivered by BMAG, Krauss and LHW and had originally still held the State Railways' Class EG 3 title with numbers 22 001 through 031 (Bavarian) or EG 701 to 725 (Prussian).

During World War II all engines ended at the Reichsbahndirektionen Halle und Hanover in exchange for Class E 75.

For a few years, E 77 10 still served as a switch heating engine at Halle central station and was then converted to a heritage locomotive at the Dresden railway works, whereby it was almost restored to its prior state.

The trailer axles of the threepartite linked locomotives were at first embedded steeply and later flexibly, so that the wheel arrangement was changed from (1B)(B1) to (1'B)(B1').