DB Class 202 (V100)

Updated: August 2026 – A stocky diesel locomotive with a long and a short bonnet, the cab between them, and four axles under the frame: that’s a V 100 – and if the number begins with 202, you’re looking at the heating-capable version of the East German body style. This page explains how to recognise it, why the train heating makes the crucial difference, and where you’re realistically likely to find it.

What is the DB Class 202 (V100)?

The Class 202 is a four-axle main-line diesel locomotive with hydraulic transmission from the Deutsche Reichsbahn’s V 100 family, built at the Hennigsdorf locomotive works, which later became part of Bombardier Transportation. It is designed for 100 km/h, has the B’B’ wheel arrangement, and is built as a classic bonnet locomotive: a long bonnet with engine and cooling system, a short bonnet with auxiliary equipment, and the cab in between.

The difference from its close relative, the Class 201, lies not in the shape but in the equipment: the 202 has electric train heating. That sounds like a detail, but it decides the entire duty profile. Only a locomotive that can heat passenger carriages can be used in front of passenger trains in winter. Without heating, freight, shunting and engineering-train work is what’s left.

Identification: from silhouette to number

You identify this vehicle family in four steps – and the first three work even from a great distance.

If you want to learn the underlying logic systematically, you’ll find it in the guide to identifying classes. For the bigger picture of older German diesel locomotives, the overview on identifying the older diesel locomotives from 218 to 232 is also worth a look.

The V designations and what became of them

Diesel locomotives in Germany originally carried V numbers: V for combustion engine, followed by a number that roughly corresponded to power in hundreds of horsepower. The V 60 was the small shunting locomotive, the V 100 the medium main-line locomotive, the V 200 the large main-line machine for fast trains.

With the switch to three-digit, computer-readable class numbers, the V designations disappeared from official registers – in everyday usage they’ve survived to this day. The assignment follows a clear rule: the first digit names the type of traction. 1xx stands for electric locomotives, 2xx for diesel locomotives.

Vehicle family	Former designation	Current classes
East German V 100	V 100, later DR Class 110	201, 202 and re-engined successor classes
West German V 100	V 100.10 and V 100.20	211, 212 and rebuilds derived from them
V 60	V 60	260 and 360 number ranges
V 200	V 200	220 number range

Spotting and photography

You photograph a V 100 differently from a long-distance locomotive. It runs slower, stops more often and often stands where little is happening – an advantage if you make use of it.

• Small stations beat large hubs. At clear, uncluttered stations you get clean backgrounds, unobstructed sightlines and time to compose your shot. The article on the advantages of small stations for spotting describes why this pays off.
• The side wall belongs in the picture. For these vehicles, the number and keeper markings are the actual information – without them the sighting isn’t unambiguous.
• Make use of slow running. Shunting and engineering-train movements allow much longer shutter speeds than main-line passes. That opens up picture ideas that don’t work with fast trains.

Why the V 100 was needed for so long

The design dates from a time when the steam locomotive had to be replaced in everyday operation. What was needed wasn’t a specialist, but a vehicle that could take on as many different tasks as possible: short passenger trains on branch lines, freight trains between smaller stations, transfer runs to private sidings, shunting duties within the station itself. A steam locomotive needed preparation time, staff and infrastructure for each of these tasks. A diesel locomotive could take over within minutes.

The body style follows exactly this requirement. The cab between two bonnets is not a compromise but a deliberate decision: from this position you can work about equally well in both directions of travel, which is crucial for shunting. The long bonnet houses the engine and cooling system, the short one the auxiliary equipment. Maintenance hatches on both sides make the technology accessible without needing a workshop crane.

Then there’s the hydraulic transmission. A torque converter gearbox is mechanically simpler than a diesel-electric system with a generator and traction motors, needs no elaborate power electronics, and can be maintained at smaller depots. For a vehicle meant to work across a wide area, that was an important argument.

This combination – rugged, versatile, easy to maintain – explains why these vehicles were still needed even once their original field of use had long since shrunk. Engineering trains, industrial traffic and local transfer runs place demands similar to branch-line operation in the 1960s: low speed, frequent switching between running and shunting, use in places without major infrastructure.

Common mix-ups

The re-engined development of the same basic design leads to the Class 204; later generations of rebuilds run, among others, as Class 298. Anyone wanting to see the original design in context will find it under LEW V 100.

Conclusion

The Class 202 is a textbook example of a vehicle whose identification splits into two levels: the body style gets you to the family within seconds, only the number gets you to the exact class. Anyone who notes only the silhouette of a V 100 has, strictly speaking, documented nothing. Anyone who takes down the number, on the other hand, has a piece of information nobody can reconstruct later – because the fleet of these vehicles changes faster than any list can keep up.