DRG Class E 18

The Class E 18 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, renumbered Class 118 by the Deutsche Bundesbahn in 1968 and Class 218 by the east German railway in 1970, was among the fastest electric locomotives of the German railways, with a top speed of 150 kilometres per hour, and worked mostly in front of passenger trains from 1935 until 1984. In 1933 AEG won the contract to develop an electric locomotive for heavy express service at more than 120 kilometres per hour, built on the E 17 for the running gear and on the E 04 for the electrics. Two trial locomotives were delivered two years later, followed by a first series. At the 1937 Paris world exposition the E 18 22 won three grands prix and an honorary diploma for its weight-saving welded main frame. A second series of 48 ordered in 1939 was never built, and 53 locomotives were in service by early 1940.