DB Class 155

Updated: August 2026 – Six axles, a locomotive body that seems to go on forever, and a heavy freight train behind it: the Class 155 is one of the most distinctive sights in German freight traffic. This page shows you how to recognise it, how to tell it apart from its equally six-axle competition, and where the wait for one is worthwhile.

What is the Class 155?

The Class 155 is a six-axle electric locomotive for heavy freight trains, built between 1974 and 1984 in 273 examples at Lokomotivbau Hennigsdorf, later the plant of Bombardier Transportation. It produces around 5,400 kW and is rated for 125 km/h. At the Deutsche Reichsbahn it ran as Class 250 and was the most powerful electric locomotive class ever procured there in series.

Its nickname, Electric Container, describes the body shape more precisely than any technical description could: a very long, angular, evenly divided box on two three-axle bogies, with no curves and no decorative elements. This plain, functional styling links it to other Reichsbahn designs such as the Class 142, but sets it clearly apart from West German classes of the same power category.

From 250 to 155: the numbering logic

The renumbering of this class is a textbook example of how two railway administrations were merged.

• The Deutsche Reichsbahn kept its electric locomotives in the 2xx range: 211, 242, 243, 250, 252.
• The Deutsche Bundesbahn had assigned these numbers to diesel locomotives since the 1968 renumbering.
• After reunification the Reichsbahn’s electric locomotives had to move and ended up in the 1xx series, which stands for electric locomotives.
• The target range depended on the intended use: the heavy freight locomotive 250 became the 155 in the freight block between 139 and 155, right next to the West German Class 151. The passenger locomotive 243 became the Class 143.

This system is still valid today and applies to every German electric locomotive. How the three-digit class relates to the twelve-digit European vehicle number is explained in the article on reading the UIC number and its check digit.

How to identify a 155 in the field

Where it fits into rail operations

As a heavy freight locomotive, the 155 follows no regular timetable. That makes its spotting profile fundamentally different from passenger services.

Environment	Chance of a sighting	Why
Electrified freight corridors	high	The core territory of heavy block trains
Marshalling yards and train formation facilities	high	Trains are made up and taken over here
Engineering and special train workings	medium	A typical field of activity for older heavy machines
Industrial sidings with overhead wire	medium	Heavy block trains, but irregular traffic
Passenger routes with clockface schedules	very low	Wrong operating profile

The article on tracking freight traffic in Germany explains how to observe freight traffic in a planned way instead of relying on chance.

Spotting and photo tips

• Use a wide frame. The 155 is long. A crop that suits a four-axle locomotive will cut off the bogies or the cab here.
• Look for raking light. The large, flat side surfaces look empty in midday light. Flat morning or evening light brings out the louvre structure.
• Document vehicle keeper markings and inscriptions. On private-operator units they are often more interesting than the locomotive itself.
• Include the train in the shot. With a heavy freight locomotive, the load is part of the story – a few wagons make the sighting easier to follow.

Exposure, composition and shooting technique are covered in the guide to taking good photos of trains. Photograph only from platforms or publicly accessible land; tracks, operational railway land and sidings are off limits.

Six axles: what’s behind them

For this class, the wheel arrangement isn’t just a recognition feature – it’s the answer to a concrete operational requirement.

• Distributing weight. A very heavy locomotive with only four axles would exceed the permitted axle load. Six axles allow a higher total mass – and mass is the precondition for putting large tractive effort onto the rail at all.
• Transmitting tractive effort. The force that can be transmitted depends on the friction between wheel and rail. Six powered axles convert power noticeably better than four, especially on wet rail and on gradients.
• The trade-off is curve running. Three-axle bogies are longer and handle tight curves worse. Six-axle locomotives are therefore main-line machines and unusual in tight shunting areas.
• That’s why six axles almost always means a freight locomotive. For passenger trains, speed and ride quality matter, not maximum tractive effort. Anyone who counts six axles in the German network can rule out the entire passenger and local-service sector.

This rule is one of the most reliable shortcuts in identifying rolling stock at all – and it still works even when the front end, livery and number can’t be made out. How it fits into a systematic approach is described in the guide to identifying rolling stock classes.

Common mix-ups

That leaves the realistic mix-up candidates as the West German 151 with the same wheel arrangement, the very rare, equally six-axle Class 156 with a distinctly more modern front end, and – when the bogies are hard to see – the four-axle heavy freight classes of the standard electric locomotive generation.

Verdict

The Class 155 is the Reichsbahn’s six-axle answer to the same need the 151 covered in the west. For identification, that means: counting axles gets you to the right group, the shape of the side wall narrows it further, and the number decides. Once you’ve seen the Electric Container, you’ll hardly ever mistake it again.