DR Class 22

Updated: August 2026 – Four large driving wheels, with a small leading axle before and behind, plus a strikingly modern boiler on a visibly older chassis: the Class 22 is one of the most interesting vehicles in German steam locomotive history, because it combines two eras in one machine. This page explains its origin, the wheel-arrangement system, and how to place it in the field.

What is the Class 22?

The Class 22 is a rebuilt steam locomotive with a tender and the wheel arrangement 1’D1’, created at the Deutsche Reichsbahn’s Meiningen works, which today keeps steam locomotives running as the Dampflokwerk Meiningen. The starting point was locomotives of Class 39, the former Prussian P 10 – three-cylinder locomotives for heavy passenger trains on gradient lines.

The rebuild went far beyond an overhaul. Its centrepiece was a new, welded boiler, along with a modernised cab and reworked assemblies. The running gear and three-cylinder engine, by contrast, came from the original type. The locomotive was cleared for 110 km/h. When the Reichsbahn changed its numbering in 1970, the class moved back into the 39 range and ran from then on as 39.10. Today none of these locomotives remains in scheduled service.

The wheel arrangement as the key identifying feature

For steam locomotives, the wheel arrangement is the decisive piece of information – it reveals design and purpose in one. The principle is simple: numbers count leading and trailing axles, letters count coupled driving axles, an apostrophe marks axles in a movable frame.

Wheel arrangement	Driving axles	Typical purpose	Example
2’C1’	three	fast passenger trains	Class 01, Class 03
1’D1’	four	heavy passenger and express trains	Class 22, Class 41
1’E	five	freight trains	Class 50, Class 52
1’C1’	three	passenger trains on branch lines	Class 23

More driving axles mean more tractive effort, but smaller wheels and so a lower speed. The 1’D1’ of the Class 22 sits exactly in between: powerful enough for heavy trains on gradients, fast enough for passenger service. The guide to identifying classes describes how to work through these features in a fixed order.

Reko locomotives: why this class exists at all

The Class 22 isn’t a one-off, but part of a programme. After the war, the Deutsche Reichsbahn faced a double problem: worn-out boilers on an otherwise large stock of usable locomotives, and no way to build new ones on a large scale.

The same pattern produced further Reko classes: the Class 01.5 is the rebuilt express locomotive, the Class 50.35 the rebuilt freight locomotive. On the West German side, a different path was taken, building new passenger locomotives with the Class 23. Background and research routes for such historical vehicles are gathered in the guide to historical railways.

Spotting and documentation

You’ll only see a Class 22 today at specific dates. The research route is the same as for all historical steam locomotives: first the operator pages of museums and societies, then the event calendars of heritage railways, and finally community forums for short-notice changes.

For this class, there’s an extra wrinkle that makes documenting it more important than usual: the same locomotive can be marked as 22 or as 39.10, depending on which era the operator is representing. Anyone who only notes “saw a Reko locomotive” can no longer match the sighting to anything later. So it’s worth recording:

• the full markings, exactly as they appear on the vehicle
• the date and location of the sighting
• the occasion – special train, museum day or exhibition
• a detail photo of the number markings as evidence

The guide to the sighting logbook shows how to record this in a structured, usable way.

Two numbering systems, one vehicle

The Class 22 is a textbook example of why steam locomotive designations can seem confusing: the same machine carried up to three different numbers over its life.

At the start was the Prussian class designation P 10, assigned by the Prussian state railway. The letter stands for the purpose, the number is a running index for the type – unlike the Bavarian system, it says nothing about the axles. From 1925, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft classified all the regional railway locomotives it took over into its own scheme; the P 10 became Class 39, because the range 20 to 39 was reserved for tender passenger locomotives. After the reconstruction, the Deutsche Reichsbahn assigned the free number 22 to mark the technically altered type. And in 1970, with the switch to computer-suitable numbers, the locomotives landed back in the 39 range – this time as 39.10.

In practice, that means: a museum locomotive can be marked as P 10, as 39, as 22 or as 39.10, depending on which era it’s representing. The designation alone, then, says nothing about the technical condition – only the combination of wheel arrangement, boiler design and markings gives a complete picture.

Common mix-ups

Conclusion

The Class 22 is a lesson in two chapters. The first tells of Prussian locomotive building in the regional-railway era, the second of the Deutsche Reichsbahn’s post-war economy, which turned old running gear and new boilers into practically new locomotives. You can identify the machine by the wheel arrangement 1’D1’ and the contrast between modern boiler and old running gear. And because it was renumbered twice, the markings are compulsory reading at every sighting.