The latter was the most numerous German state railway (Länderbahn) locomotive, over 5,000 examples being built.

It was the first superheated goods train locomotive in Prussia, which is why it initially suffered from a host of teething troubles.

One further problem was the restriction to a 14-tonne (14-long-ton; 15-short-ton) axle load; as a result many components had to be made too light in order to save weight.

After the First World War, 336 locomotives had to be given to Germany's former enemies as reparations and 18 units to the Saar Railway.

The journey, which had cost 47,000 deutschmarks of which 36,531 DM[6] were invoiced by Deutsche Bahn for the leg in Germany, is documented in a book.

[7][page needed] Two units of the 22 assigned to Italy as war reparations (and classified by the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane as FS Class 422) survive to this day, both property of the Museo Ferroviario Piemontese; one is exposed at Savigliano,[8] while the other is kept in a nearby railway station.