MaK G 1100 BB

Updated: August 2026 – Four axles in two bogies, a bonnet, a builder’s plate from Kiel: the MaK G 1100 BB belongs to a group of vehicles you don’t identify by looks, but by number. This page explains the type logic behind it and shows, step by step, how to read the twelve-digit vehicle number – the one detail that really makes such a locomotive unambiguous.

What is the MaK G 1100 BB?

The MaK G 1100 BB is a diesel-hydraulic locomotive from Maschinenbau Kiel’s type programme, built for shunting and transfer duties. The designation is fully readable once you know the system: “G” stands for the gearbox design with hydraulic power transmission, the number marks a power class, and “BB” describes the wheel arrangement – two two-axle bogies. Kiel’s type programme was later carried on by Vossloh, which is why closely related machines carry different builder’s plates depending on their year of construction.

It’s a manufacturer type designation, not a Deutsche Bahn class number. Vehicles of this kind serve mostly with private keepers, industrial and port railways. Their official identity therefore sits not in a three-digit class, but in the twelve-digit vehicle number.

The twelve-digit number, digit by digit

This number is the only detail on the vehicle that works independently of colour, company logo and fleet number. It’s organised into fixed blocks.

How the check digit is calculated, and why it exposes typing errors in sighting lists, is explained in the article on reading the UIC number and its check digit. Where numbers are written on the vehicle, and which of them is the actual vehicle number, is covered in the guide to finding train and vehicle numbers.

Where it fits into railway operations

The type code is more than an administrative figure: it describes what a vehicle is approved for and where you’ll realistically encounter it.

Setting	What happens there	Chance of a BB shunting locomotive
Industrial siding, works track	Delivering and collecting individual wagons	High, but mostly on private property
Port railway and transshipment terminal	Transfers between the network and the site	High, often visible from public paths
Marshalling yard	Breaking up and forming trains	Medium to high, depending on the location
Through station on the main line	Mostly passing trains	Low
Purely passenger-service line	Passenger trains, no shunting	Very low

Within Kiel’s programme the G 1100 BB borders the MaK G 1300 BB and the family around the MaK G 1202 BB above it, and the three-axle C types below it. The diesel-electric alternative in the programme is the MaK DE 1002.

What BB actually means in service

The type suffix isn’t a pure formality. Whether a locomotive carries its axles in bogies or in a rigid frame decides where it can even be used – and it’s one of the few features you can identify with confidence from twenty metres away.

Two two-axle bogies mean that each bogie can twist relative to the frame. That lets the vehicle get through tighter curves than its overall length would suggest – an important point on works and port tracks, which are rarely laid out generously. A rigid frame with three coupled axles, as the programme’s C types have, distributes the load differently and is mechanically simpler, but needs larger curve radii.

For identification in the field, a practical order of operations follows: count the axles first, then check whether they run in bogies. Only once both are established is it worth looking at the builder’s plate and vehicle number. This order saves time, because two observations already rule out a large part of the type programme. How to build up this step-by-step elimination process in general is described in the guide to identifying classes.

Spotting: reading numbers without the risk

Vehicle numbers sit on the side wall and often additionally on the cab. In shunting service they’re frequently partly obscured – by wagons, by fittings, by dirt.

• Wait for movement. A locomotive pulling out of a group shows its clear side wall for a few seconds.
• Use focal length instead of proximity. A telephoto lens solves the problem without you having to approach the track.
• Photograph the number separately. A dedicated close-up shot is worth more later than trying to enlarge it from a general view.
• Check the check digit. It’s the built-in safeguard against misread digits.

Location ideas and approach for such sites are provided by the guide to spotting at marshalling yards.

A note on expectations: the keeper, livery and location of these vehicles change constantly. Machines get sold, hired out and moved between sites, and completely repainted during overhauls. Every detail about them is therefore a snapshot and should be checked against current sightings before a planned trip.

Common mix-ups

Conclusion

With the MaK G 1100 BB, the insight lies not in performance data but in legibility: the type designation tells you how power is transmitted and how many axles run where; the twelve-digit number tells you exactly which vehicle stands in front of you. Together they add up to a solid identification, even without a datasheet.