As a highlight in freight transport, the locomotives of the Class 151 pulled the heaviest ore trains in Western Europe between the North Sea ports and the Peine-Salzgitter steelworks, as well as to Saarland starting in 1976. The trains reached loads of up to 5,700 tons. They operated exclusively in double traction and with automatic couplings, as the conventional screw coupling would not have been able to withstand the very high pulling forces.