Class 296

Updated: August 2026 – The Class 296 looks like a Class 290, runs like a V 90, and yet carries its own number. The reason lies not in the construction but in the rebuild and equipment status of the vehicles. This page explains what that means for identification, how to tell the 29x family apart cleanly, and why the fleet is currently shifting.

What is the Class 296?

Class 296 is a four-axle diesel-hydraulic shunting and transfer locomotive from the V 90 family. It has four powered axles in two two-axle bogies, a centre cab between two bonnets of different lengths, and a hydraulic gearbox with shunting and line ranges.

The difference from its sister classes lies in the equipment and rebuild status, not the basic construction. Vehicles in this family have been modernised, refitted and adapted to new requirements over decades. Such interventions are reflected in a class number of their own – and that’s exactly why the vehicle number matters more than any shape feature for this group.

Why rebuild states get their own class numbers

A class number doesn’t just describe the construction, but also how a vehicle must be handled operationally. If the equipment changes enough that different regulations, different spare parts or different operating procedures apply, a new number is the clean solution. For workshops, dispatch and staff, that’s a simplification – for spotters, on the other hand, it’s a source of error.

In practice that gives a simple rule: body style determines the family, number determines the class. How the full twelve-digit number is structured and where the type code 98 sits within it is explained in the guide to reading the UIC number.

How to identify a 296

A fleet in flux

The German shunting locomotive fleet has been changing noticeably for years. Alongside the vehicles of the V 90 generation, there are now modern shunting locomotives with lower-emission engines, some with hybrid or battery drive, some with remote control as standard – a generation that Vossloh has shaped with its G-series. Types such as the Vossloh G 6 represent this new generation.

Feature	V 90 generation	Modern shunting locomotive generation
Body style	Centre cab, two bonnets	Often similar, but more angular design
Drive	Diesel-hydraulic	Diesel, diesel-electric, hybrid or battery-electric
Remote control	Sometimes retrofitted	Usually planned in from the start
Type code	98	98
Fleet situation	Declining, changing keepers	Growing, many private operators

For observers, that mainly means one thing: fleet data goes out of date quickly. How many machines of a class are currently in service, who keeps them and where they work can only be reliably established through current observation – not by copying older lists.

Observing, photographing, archiving

Shunting and transfer workings are slow, and that’s an advantage for photography. You have time to compose the shot, can read the number reliably, and get sharp images even in moderate light.

• Choose a three-quarter view. It shows the cab and both bonnets and makes the silhouette legible.
• Plan the number into the frame. For this family, it’s the real piece of information.
• Include the surroundings. Wagon groups, loading tracks and connecting points tell you what task the locomotive is currently doing.
• Tag it immediately. Number, location and date belong in the archive right after the trip, not weeks later from memory.

How to build a growing collection so you can still find things years later is covered in the guide to a photo archive for spotters. Locations and time windows around shunting facilities are covered in the guide to spotting at marshalling yards.

Why keeper information on shunting locomotives is so short-lived

Shunting locomotives don’t follow a timetable, but service orders. They’re found wherever wagons currently need moving – and disappear when the order ends. That creates a mobility that line locomotives don’t have in this form.

Three mechanisms make keeper and location information go out of date quickly:

• Contracts run out. When service to a siding is retendered, the locomotive used often changes too – sometimes along with the operator.
• Leasing is common. A significant share of shunting locomotives are on the books of lessors and are reassigned as needed. The livery then shows the lessor, not the actual user.
• Rebuilds change the markings. After a modernisation, a vehicle can carry a new number and a new livery. Anyone searching only for the old appearance won’t find it again.

For your own documentation, that means: date is mandatory, number is mandatory. Everything else – keeper, livery, location – is a snapshot that only retains value with a date attached. But that’s exactly where the appeal lies: whoever records consistently over years captures a development that’s otherwise documented nowhere.

Common mix-ups

The most obvious comparison within the family is the radio remote-controlled Class 294.

Conclusion

Class 296 is a textbook case showing that class numbers are more than construction designations: they capture the state a vehicle is operationally managed in. Outwardly it remains a V 90 with a centre cab, two bonnets and four axles on bogies. Whoever gets into the habit of consistently reading the number and noting it with date and keeper reliably arrives at the right result with this family – and has documented in passing how the shunting locomotive fleet is currently changing.