DB Class 215

Updated: August 2026 – A continuous locomotive body, a cab at each end, four axles underneath and no pantograph on the roof: that’s the silhouette of the V 160 family. The Class 215 is one of its members – 150 locomotives, built between 1968 and 1970, rated for 140 km/h. This page shows you how to identify it and how it differs from its sisters.

What is the Class 215?

The Class 215 is a four-axle main-line diesel locomotive with hydraulic power transmission from Deutsche Bundesbahn’s V 160 family. Between 1968 and 1970, 150 locomotives were built, numbered 215 001 to 215 150. They carry the wheel arrangement B’B’ and are rated for 140 km/h.

Its job was all-purpose service on non-electrified main lines: passenger trains, semi-fast trains, freight trains – everything that happened on lines without overhead wires. At 140 km/h it was considerably faster than the V 100 family and so genuinely usable in passenger service. Its closest relatives are the Class 216 as the family’s original version, and the Class 218 as its most numerous and best-known member.

How to identify a 215

The general approach – body style first, then axle count, then drive type, and finally the number – is set out in full in the guide to identifying locomotive classes.

The V 160 family and the 1968 renumbering

Until 1968, Deutsche Bundesbahn used letter codes: E for electric, V for internal combustion (Verbrennungsmotor), followed by a number that roughly described output in hundreds of horsepower. The original locomotive of this family was accordingly called V 160, and further developments carried designations such as V 162.

With the introduction of three-digit, machine-readable numbers, the letters disappeared. Their information moved into the first digit: 1xx for electric, 2xx for diesel locomotives. The 215 is one of the classes that lived through this transition partway through delivery – it carried a three-digit number from the start, while its older relatives were renumbered.

Class	Former designation	Place within the family
216	V 160	the family’s original version
217	V 162	trial series with its own train-heating unit
215	three-digit from the start	all-purpose machine for passenger and freight duty
218	from the same development line	most powerful and most numerous version
225	rebuild from the Class 215	without train heating, thereby dedicated to freight service

The close family relationship also shows in the Class 217, which comes from the same development line and today counts among the rarest members of the family.

Its place in railway operations today

In scheduled service at Deutsche Bahn AG, the Class 215 is history. What remains are surviving individual vehicles with heritage railways, societies and private operators. That fundamentally changes the search strategy: instead of researching diagrams, you work from event dates and up-to-date reports.

This sets the 215 clearly apart from its rebuilt sister machines of the Class 225, which remained in commercial service longer as pure freight locomotives. Anyone wanting to understand the whole group of older-generation German diesel locomotives in context can find an overview in the article on identifying the older-generation diesel locomotives from 218 to 232.

Photo tips for a full-width locomotive

Full-width locomotives make different demands than bonneted locomotives. Their shape is more closed, the front flatter – which forgives fewer mistakes with light.

• Shoot a three-quarter view rather than head-on. Roughly 30 to 45 degrees to the vehicle’s axis shows the front and side simultaneously; the flat front gains depth this way.
• Prefer low, flat light. In the morning and late afternoon the edges of the body stand out. Midday light makes the flat surfaces look bland.
• Arrive early for special trains. Popular dates draw many photographers. Anyone who picks a spot late rarely gets a clear sightline.
• Get the number in the shot. Within the V 160 family the classes look alike – without a legible number, uncertainty remains afterwards.

The underlying technique from depth of field to panning is covered in the guide to taking good photos of trains.

With historic vehicles, a second dimension comes into play: documentary value. A technically perfect photo without context is worth less than a solid photo with date, place, occasion and vehicle number recorded alongside it. Especially at special trains, it’s worth noting the composition of the train as well as the locomotive – historic sets of carriages change just as much as the locomotives in front of them.

Anyone who regularly attends such events also develops a feel for the downsides of heavily attended occasions: crowded photo spots, hectic scrambling for a position, and the temptation to move into areas that aren’t publicly accessible just for a shot. The quieter spot a few hundred metres further on often delivers the better photo – and is in any case the only acceptable choice.

Common mix-ups

Verdict

The Class 215 is a vehicle that teaches you two things at once: how a locomotive family works, and how the German numbering system captures equipment differences. 150 locomotives, 140 km/h, hydraulic power transmission – and a number that changed when part of the fleet was rebuilt into a freight locomotive, even though the vehicle itself stayed the same. In scheduled service it’s gone, but it lives on in heritage operation.