The bread-and-butter locomotive in Saxony

It was the era of the Golden Twenties when the newly established Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920 made significant advancements, particularly in vehicle technology. The new Class 86 was especially successful, a 70-ton, 1000-horsepower design featuring four driving axles along with a leading and a trailing axle. With a top speed of 70 or 80 km/h and high tractive power, they could be used in passenger and local freight services on main lines. By 1943, 774 units of the Class 86 had been delivered to the Reichsbahn. After the end of the war, the East German Reichsbahn operated 164 serviceable Class 86 locomotives, primarily based in Saxony. They demonstrated their capabilities impressively on the sometimes challenging routes in the local mountain ranges. Even express and fast trains were pulled by these nimble and powerful tender locomotives. This was also the case at the East Saxon railway depot in Zittau, where, for example, the E 681 Berlin – Zittau was scheduled to be operated by the Class 86. Starting in 1968, 16 Class 86 locomotives replaced the old Baden tender locomotives at the Zittau depot. One of the star locomotives in Zittau was 86 1360-6, which literally shone due to its perfect maintenance condition. Particularly interesting for model railway enthusiasts is the fact that the Zittau Class 86 operated both with old regional railway cars and with the then highly modern Rekowaggons. The era of the Class 86 in Zittau ended in 1976. They were succeeded by modern diesel locomotives of Class V 100 and war locomotives of Classes 52/52.80.

Prototype: Tender steam locomotive Class 86 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR. Basic color scheme black with red chassis. Design with 4 boiler structures. Welded water boxes with long cutouts over the cylinders and rounded front edge. Three-light front signal.