DSB ME (Diesel)

Updated: August 2026 – Six axles, a boxy, tall body, no pantograph, and an audibly working diesel engine: that’s the picture of a Litra ME from DSB. This page explains how to identify the Danish main-line diesel locomotive, why it looks so similar to its electric sisters, and what the Danish Litra system tells you about a vehicle.

What is the DSB ME?

The DSB ME is a diesel-electric line locomotive with six axles, procured in the 1980s for loco-hauled services on the Danish network. It stands for a vehicle category that played a major role in Denmark for good reason for a long time: a substantial part of the line network went unelectrified for decades.

Operationally, the ME is a classic all-purpose locomotive for passenger services wherever there’s no continuous overhead line or where a system changeover gets in the way. Its design comes from the same family as the electric locomotives of the DSB Litra EA / EB class – a circumstance that regularly causes confusion at first glance, and one you can resolve cleanly further down.

The three features that are enough to identify it

If you’d like to get into the habit of a fixed order for working through features, the guide to identifying classes helps. The twelve-digit vehicle number as the final authority is explained in the article on the UIC number and its check digit – for Denmark the country code 86 is the key anchor.

The Litra system: what the letters mean in Denmark

Germany works with class numbers, Denmark with Litra letters. The system is compact but logical, and it’s worth understanding once – after that, you can roughly place any Danish vehicle.

Litra	Vehicle type	Recognisable by
ME	Diesel locomotive	six axles, radiators on the roof, no pantograph
EA / EB	Electric locomotive	pantograph, high-voltage equipment on the roof
EG	Heavy freight electric locomotive	multi-part body, noticeably more axles
MF / MG	Diesel multiple unit	powered cars, no separate locomotive
SA / SE	Copenhagen S-train	own electrification system, only on the Copenhagen network

So the letter tells you the vehicle type, not the year built. Anyone wanting to identify a specific machine always needs the running number as well. A direct contrast with the modern locomotive generation can be found on the page for the DSB Vectron, and a contrast with the multiple-unit world on the page for the DSB IC3.

Denmark’s diesel tradition – and why it’s shifting

The fact that heavy diesel locomotives ran in front of passenger trains for so long in a small, densely operated country has a simple reason: large parts of the Danish line network went unelectrified for decades. Where there’s no overhead line, you need vehicles that bring their own energy along – and for long, heavy trains, that traditionally means a diesel-electric locomotive.

This starting position produced what still shapes Denmark’s rolling stock today. Alongside main-line diesel locomotives like the ME, the country committed early and consistently to diesel multiple units, which are more economical than locomotive-and-carriage sets on secondary lines. The best-known representative of this line is the IC3 with its rubber-bellows front – a vehicle type that would never have come about without Denmark’s diesel tradition.

This starting position is shifting, though. Electrification projects are changing which lines still need diesel vehicles at all, and new generations of locomotives and multiple units are taking over duties that used to fall to the ME as a matter of course. Vehicles that become free can move on to lessors such as Rentalok, which provide traction without running trains themselves. For observers, that mainly means one thing: what’s still everyday today can have collector’s value within a few years. Anyone who gets an ME in front of the camera should take the opportunity rather than putting it off – the guide to keeping a sighting log shows how to record such sightings so they stay useful.

Where and how you’ll realistically encounter them

Diesel locomotives follow the unelectrified network and the duties that multiple units struggle to cover. That gives a simple search pattern: large junction stations with mixed traffic and lines without a continuous overhead line are the most promising places.

For German observers, an honest assessment applies: scheduled workings of Danish main-line diesel locomotives in Germany are not to be expected. In the border area towards Jutland, Danish vehicles do turn up as a matter of principle, but which ones depends on services and approvals and shifts with every timetable year. Treat any information on this – including here – as a snapshot.

Photo tips for boxy diesel locomotives

A tall, boxy locomotive is more rewarding to photograph than a smooth-sided modern machine – if the light plays along.

The basic technique – depth of field, shutter speed, panning – is covered in detail by the guide to taking good photos of trains.

Common mix-ups

Verdict

The Litra ME stands for an era of Danish railway operations in which heavy diesel locomotives ran in front of passenger trains as a matter of course. It’s easy to identify once you do two things: count the axles and look at the roof. The rest – Litra, running number, UIC number – provides the confirmation and turns an observation into a solid sighting.