Kleinlokomotive

This extended waiting times and reduced the average speed of the train considerably, but having a dedicated shunting engine at such stations would not have been economically viable due to the low levels of goods traffic.

The development of combustion-engined locomotives offered new possibilities here: the Kleinlokomotiven were smaller, cheaper and easy to operate.

It was anticipated that the resulting improvement in the speed at which goods could be moved would enable railways to compete with road transport.

A 1927 shunting unit delivered by the Berliner Maschinenbau AG to the Dutch State Railways served as a prototype.

Based on its experience with the earlier engines, the Kleinlokomotiven were then standardised by the DRG as Einheitskleinlokomotive (standard small locomotives).

The first Kleinloks to be completed in 1930 were initially given the letter class V for Verbrennungsmotor (combustion engine) or A for Akkumulatorlokomotive (accumulator or battery-driven locomotive) followed by a serial number, beginning at 6000.

To make a better distinction between the various types of Kleinlokomotiven, the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRG) introduced a new system in 1931, as part of which the concept of a Kleinlokomotive was first unequivocally laid down.

Kleinlokomotiven with purely mechanical transmission were not given a specific third letter and those whose batteries were charged by a diesel or petrol engine were classified as Köe and Kbe respectively.