Class 115

Updated: August 2026 – A boxy locomotive body, four axles, a front end with a vertical ridge in the middle: get a Class 115 in front of your camera today and you’ve caught a piece of Bundesbahn history. This page explains where the class comes from, how you tell it apart from its sisters, and why the vehicle number does half the work here.

What is the Class 115 (E10)?

The Class 115 is a four-axle electric locomotive from the standard-design E 10 family, rated for 150 km/h and run on 15 kV AC. It’s not a new design but a sub-group created by renumbering from the Class 110 – specifically from its 110.3 design with the distinctive Bügelfalte front.

The purpose of this split was operational: locomotives no longer held for the classic scheduled service, but kept for special, relief and transfer workings, received their own class digit at Deutsche Bahn AG. For spotters that means: the 115 was never a mass phenomenon with fixed diagrams, but a vehicle you meet where something departs from regular operation.

E-number, renumbering, three-digit class

Hardly any German electric locomotive illustrates the numbering system as clearly as this one.

• Until 1968, the design was called E 10. The E stood for electric, the number for the design family – alongside it there was E 40, E 41 and E 50.
• In 1968 the Bundesbahn switched to three-digit, computer-compatible class numbers. E 10 became 110, E 40 became the Class 140, E 41 became 141. The leading 1 has marked the electric locomotive ever since.
• Within the hundred-block, the low numbers sit with the passenger locomotives, the middle ones with the freight locomotives, the 180s with multi-system and cross-border locomotives.
• Later offshoots such as the 115 came about when individual locomotives received a new class digit while keeping their running number. That’s exactly why the 115’s number series is full of gaps.

How this digit sequence relates to the twelve-digit European vehicle number is explained in the article on the UIC number and its check digit.

How to identify a 115 in the field

Where it fits in railway operations

Because the 115 is no longer a vehicle of regular service, the classic spotting strategy of “stand at the right station and wait” doesn’t work here. Access runs through dates.

Occasion	Chance of a sighting	Why
Announced special trains	high	route and times are known in advance
Railway anniversaries and vehicle shows	high	historic locomotives are put on deliberate display
Heritage railway operating days	medium	depends on the society’s vehicle deployment
Transfer and light-engine runs	low	short-notice and hard to plan
Regular service at the main station	very low	no scheduled workings left

Photo tips for a rare vintage electric locomotive

• The Bügelfalte needs side light. Head-on and in midday light the ridge visually disappears. An angle of 30 to 45 degrees in flat light makes it visible.
• The boxy shape suits classic composition. The locomotive is a matter-of-fact subject – a calm background works better than a crowded platform.
• Capture the number and markings too. With historic vehicles, lettering, owner logos and data panels are part of the documentation, not decoration.
• Several shots, one record. An overview shot, a detail of the front, a shot of the number – that way the sighting stays usable even years later.

The basic photography technique is covered in the guide to good train photography. Photography takes place exclusively from the platform or from publicly accessible land; tracks, operational railway land and stabling sidings are off limits. What that means in practice is set out in the article on safe distance from the track.

The standard-design electric locomotive family at a glance

The 115 only makes sense once you know the vehicle family it comes from. In the 1950s, the Deutsche Bundesbahn developed several classes from shared component groups for the first time – an approach that considerably simplified procurement and maintenance.

Task	Old designation	Three-digit class	Recognition aid
Fast passenger trains	E 10	110 and sub-groups such as 113 and 115	boxy body, some with Bügelfalte
Freight trains	E 40	140	long body, smooth roof
Steep-gradient freight trains	E 40.11	139	extra roof structures for brake resistors
Regional service	E 41	141	noticeably short locomotive body

In practice that means a clear order for identification: first recognise the family by its body shape, then narrow it down by length, front shape and roof structures, and only then read the number. Once you’ve internalised this sequence, you can place a large share of German vintage electric locomotives within seconds – the general system behind it is set out in the guide to identifying locomotive classes.

A second point helps when placing historic vehicles: the later a sub-group came about, the more likely it is to have arisen through renumbering rather than new construction. The 115 belongs squarely in this category – it’s an administrative process that has become a vehicle type in its own right.

Common mix-ups

The realistically most dangerous candidates are thus the Class 113 and the rest of the 110.3 design. A little further removed, but visually related, is the Class 141: also boxy, but shorter, without the Bügelfalte and with a different use profile.

Verdict

The Class 115 shows how the German numbering system works: a new digit doesn’t automatically mean a new vehicle. Recognise the E 10 family by its boxy shape, axle count and Bügelfalte, and after that you only need to read the digits – and with a 115, you’ve caught a vehicle that’s long since disappeared from everyday service.