DB Class 213 (V100)

Updated: August 2026 – At first glance, an entirely ordinary V 100 – four axles, long and short bonnet, cab in between. The difference lies in the brake. The Class 213 is the steep-line version of the West German V 100 family, formerly designated V 100.23. This page explains what’s behind that and how to identify it with confidence.

What is the Class 213 (V100)?

The Class 213 is a four-axle main-line diesel locomotive of the West German V 100 build with additional steep-line equipment. It transmits its power hydraulically, carries the wheel arrangement B’B’ and is rated for 100 km/h. Until the 1968 renumbering it ran under the designation V 100.23.

The crucial feature is the hydrodynamic brake. It allows continuous braking over long downhill stretches without overloading the mechanical brakes. That cleared the vehicle for lines its sister classes weren’t allowed on. Almost nothing changes on the outside because of it – the 213 looks confusingly similar to the Class 212.

Why steep lines need their own vehicles

The common assumption that a steep line is mainly a power problem is misleading. Going uphill, tractive effort settles it, and if necessary that can be solved with shorter trains or a second locomotive. The real problem lies downhill.

Requirement	What’s behind it	Why it matters on steep lines
Sustained braking power	Braking for minutes rather than seconds	mechanical brakes overheat on long descents
Hydrodynamic brake	Torque converter acts as a brake	dissipates kinetic energy without wearing brake blocks
Additional safety equipment	special regulations for steep lines	clearance applies line by line, not generally
Adjusted train loads	limits on weight and train length	reduces the energy that has to be dissipated on the descent

The numbering system behind it

Before 1968, Deutsche Bundesbahn used letter codes: V for internal combustion (Verbrennungsmotor), followed by a number for the broad power class in hundreds of horsepower, then a sub-class for the specific version. That’s how the series V 100.10, V 100.20 and V 100.23 came about.

With the switch to three-digit, machine-readable numbers, the class information moved into the first digit: 1xx for electric, 2xx for diesel locomotives. The sub-classes became independent classes – V 100.10 became the Class 211, V 100.20 became the 212, and V 100.23 became the 213.

This logic also explains why vehicles with completely different body styles can share a tens group: from the 215 onwards, the V 160 family introduces an entirely different design – full-width locomotives with a cab at each end instead of bonneted locomotives. A good starting point on that is the Class 215.

Spotting and photography on steep lines

Steep lines are photographically rewarding and logistically demanding at the same time. They’re often set into hillsides with interesting sightlines, but harder to reach than stations on level ground.

Which focal length makes sense for situations like this, and where budget lenses hit their limits, is covered in the guide to the best telephoto lens for railway photography.

Another point concerns composition. Steep lines have a feature you can put to photographic use: the gradient is visible. A train standing or running on a ramp shows a tilted line in the frame – provided the camera is levelled to the horizon and not to the tracks. Anyone who levels the tracks instead throws away exactly the information that defines the location. A reference point in the landscape, such as a building or a tree trunk, helps with levelling.

Also useful: on steep lines the locomotive works audibly. Engine noise and gear changes often announce a train much earlier than on level ground, which buys valuable seconds of preparation time in cluttered terrain.

What the wheel arrangement B’B’ means

References to this class keep mentioning the wheel arrangement B’B’. It’s worth learning to read, because it describes in a compact formula how a vehicle is built – and that applies to every locomotive, not just the V 100.

Letters stand for powered axles, numbers for unpowered ones. A means one powered axle, B two, C three. An apostrophe indicates that the axle group sits in its own bogie that can pivot relative to the vehicle frame.

B’B’ therefore means: two bogies with two powered axles each, four powered axles in total. That’s the classic arrangement for medium-sized locomotives – enough adhesive weight on all axles, good cornering thanks to the bogies, manageable mechanical complexity.

For comparison: Co’Co’ denotes two bogies with three powered axles each, so six axles in total – typical for heavy freight locomotives. C without an apostrophe stands for three powered axles in a rigid frame, as was common on classic shunting locomotives with coupling-rod drive.

In practice this means: counting axles isn’t just an exercise, it directly places a vehicle in its power class. In Germany, four axles mean medium weight and medium tractive effort, six axles mean heavy-duty service. Together with the body style, that’s the fastest first sort you can make – even before you can make out a number at all.

Common mix-ups

For the bigger picture on older-generation German diesel locomotives and their distinguishing features, it’s worth reading the article on identifying the older-generation diesel locomotives from 218 to 232. The general approach is set out in the guide to identifying locomotive classes.

Verdict

The Class 213 is a good example of how the most interesting differences between vehicles sometimes can’t be photographed. Two identically shaped locomotives, one extra brake – and the result is a class number of its own and a completely different area of use. The surviving locomotives today are mostly in private and heritage ownership, for instance at track-laying firms such as the Wiebe Unternehmensgruppe. Anyone who knows the background reads more into a number than just a figure.