In 1895 the Prussian Ministry for Public Works decided that compound locomotives could be built.

Owing to the weight of the low-pressure cylinder, the boiler barrel was shortened, and the smokebox extended.

An experiment carried out in 1903 with a Lentz-type corrugated tube boiler fitted to Hannover 1302 was unsuccessful.

In 1919, many locomotives had to be surrendered as reparations to the railways in Poland (PKP Tp2), Lithuania (LG P 7.2), Belgium (Type 72) and France.

In 1935, the Reichsbahn inherited 18 former Prussian locomotives from the Railways of the Saarland; they were renumbered 55 1393 to 55 1410; [4] the last three had been acquired from Alasace-Lorraine for border services only a few month earlier.

Compared to the Prussian version, the locomotives had a Knorr feedwater heater on the second ring of the boiler behind the steam dome.

In 1919 five locomotives had to be surrendered to Belgium (État Belge 7295–7299) and one to France (CF du Nord 4.1076).

The Deutsche Bundesbahn sold some of the locomotives to non-federal railways (Mindener Kreisbahnen, Kahlgrund-Eisenbahn).

Some locomotives remained in eastern European countries and were later mostly sold to the Polish State Railways.

The locomotives built in the first two years had cabs with short roofs, from 1897 they were extended over the tender fallplate.