Class 218 and Ludmilla: Identifying and Finding Classic Diesel Locomotives

Updated: August 2026 – The Class 218 and the six-axle Ludmillas are among the last classic diesel locomotives you can still see in service in Germany. Every year there are fewer of them, and every remaining working becomes an event. This guide shows you how to reliably identify the classics, what tells the different types apart and how to keep track of where they’re still running.

Identifying classic diesel locomotives: the short answer

You can identify classic diesel locomotives in three steps: count the axles first, then look at the body shape and finally check the running number. Four axles with a continuous box body and rounded front ends point to Class 218 from the West German V160 family; six axles in two three-axle bogies with a long, tall locomotive body mean a Ludmilla of classes 232 to 241.

The running number on the side of the locomotive is the only truly reliable proof, because the rebuilt variants are barely distinguishable from the outside. The guide to decoding train numbers on ICE, IC, RE and RB services explains how this numbering system is built up in general – the same logic applies to vehicle numbers: the leading block of digits names the class.

Class 218: the West German classic

The 218 is the best-known member of the V160 family, that group of four-axle general-purpose diesel locomotives that shaped operations on the Bundesbahn’s non-electrified main lines for decades. It handled everything: express trains, local services, freight trains, car-carrier trains.

Recognition features of the 218

• A continuous box body running the full length of the locomotive, with no centre cab
• Two cabs, one at each end, with rounded front ends and low-set windscreens
• Large vent grilles in the side walls, usually clearly visible in outline
• Four axles in two two-axle bogies
• A single large diesel engine, audible from the gruff, rough note when pulling away

The main risk of confusion is with other members of the V160 family, though hardly any of those are still in active service. If you see a four-axle box-body locomotive in Verkehrsrot red or one of the well-known older liveries, you’re usually looking at a 218.

Where the 218 still runs today

That’s a question with no lastingly correct answer. The fleet is shrinking, scheduled workings are being displaced by electrification, and many of the remaining machines run in engineering-train, assistance and transfer duty, or with private operators such as the Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen. In practice that means: don’t rely on route lists from older articles, rely on current reports. The overview on live sightings and real-time updates describes the system behind that.

Ludmilla: the six-axle legend

Ludmilla is the name given to the heavy, Soviet-built diesel locomotives that came to the Deutsche Reichsbahn and now run as classes 232, 233, 234 and 241. They are the exact opposite of the 218: long, heavy, six-axle, and with a sound you can identify from kilometres away.

Recognition features of the Ludmilla

• Six axles in two three-axle bogies – the single most striking feature
• A very long, tall locomotive body with a clearly visible body edge
• A distinctive, wide front end with high-set cab windows
• A deep, booming engine note that stands clearly apart from West German designs
• Frequently seen in private-operator liveries, because many of these machines have changed hands

Telling the sub-classes apart

The differences between the 232, 233, 234 and 241 lie mainly in the drive system and top speed, not in appearance. The only reliable way to tell them apart is the running number. Anyone who documents vehicles systematically should therefore always note the full number – photos alone often aren’t enough with this family.

Feature	Class 218	Ludmilla 232 / 233 / 234 / 241	Class 245
Axles	four	six	four
Body shape	box-body, rounded front ends	very long, tall body	modern TRAXX front, smooth flanks
Origin	West German V160 family	Soviet-built, DR fleet	current new-build generation
Typical use	remaining passenger service, engineering trains, transfer runs	freight service, private operators, engineering work	passenger service on non-electrified lines
Sound	single large diesel, rough	deep and booming	several smaller engines, more even
Risk of confusion with	other V160 types	each other, only separable by number	other TRAXX variants

The 245 and what else runs on diesel

If you see a diesel locomotive on a non-electrified line in front of a passenger train today, statistically you’re most likely looking at a modern machine – often a Class 245 from the TRAXX family. It’s four-axle like the 218, but looks completely different: smooth side walls, large front windows, a clearly defined nose.

It’s also worth looking at two other groups that are far more common day to day than the 218 and Ludmilla:

• The V100 family (carried among others as classes 202, 203, 212 and 213): smaller line diesel locomotives, today mostly with private operators, construction firms and railway service companies – often circulating through dealers and lessors such as On Rail.
• Heavy V90-type shunters (classes 294 and 295): the workhorse of freight yards, often overlooked but easy to find.

Where such vehicles are stored or collected is documented very thoroughly by the scene – the overview on lists of stored locomotives on Drehscheibe Online covers the go-to places for that.

How to catch one of the last workings

For finding dates, the guide to finding special trains and special workings is worth a look, and for historical background there’s the Drehscheibe Online guide to historic railways.

Are you ready for the hunt for the classics?

Why documenting them is especially worthwhile right now

For classes that are disappearing from scheduled service, the value of a sighting shifts. As long as a locomotive runs daily, a photo of it is an everyday thing. Once only a handful of machines are still out there, every shot with date, place and number becomes evidence of where and when the class last ran.

That has two practical consequences. First, completeness pays off: photograph not just the nice front-on view, but also the side with the number, the train behind it and, where possible, the surroundings. Second, sharing pays off. A sighting that only sits in your own archive doesn’t help anyone trying to work out whether a class can still be found on a route. It’s exactly these individual reports that build up the scene’s collective knowledge.

And the reverse holds too: anyone looking for remaining workings themselves benefits from other people’s reports. Someone who logs nothing but queries everything lets a system run idle that only works because lots of people contribute small observations.

Common mistakes when identifying diesel locomotives

• Going by livery instead of body shape. Colours change, axle count and body shape don’t. Anyone fixated on Verkehrsrot red misses the same class in private-operator colours.
• Not photographing the number. Without a running number, a Ludmilla sighting stays unidentifiable.
• Treating old duty lists as current. With remaining fleets, assignments change almost every timetable year.
• Mixing up the 245 with the 218. Both are four-axle diesel locomotives in front of passenger trains – the front end makes the difference obvious straight away.
• Only watching for passenger trains. Many classic diesel locomotives now run in front of engineering trains, ballast trains and transfer runs, not passenger trains. The guide to tracking freight trains live helps you find these workings.
• Setting off without a plan B. Anyone who drives 200 kilometres for a single locomotive often comes back empty-handed. A second subject at the same location saves the day – the guide to railway photography with tips and locations has ideas for that.

Conclusion

Identifying classic diesel locomotives is easier than many people think: axle count, body shape, number – that’s all it takes for a rough ID. The hard part isn’t identifying them, it’s finding them. As scheduled workings decline, the hobby shifts from reading timetables to watching current sightings and special-train dates. Combine both and you still have good odds of catching the classics – while documenting an operating state that won’t exist in the same form in a few years’ time.