DRG Class E 44

The Class E 44 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, called Class 144 by the Deutsche Bundesbahn and Class 244 by the east German railway from 1968 and 1970, was a family of electric universal locomotives and the first electric locomotive type in Germany of which more than a hundred were procured. It was a milestone because on a larger line locomotive it did without carrying axles and established the long-lived nose-suspended drive, and the robust, reliable locomotives shaped rail traffic in the electrified networks of southern and central Germany from the 1930s into the 1980s. Three consortia built three trial locomotives at their own risk in 1930, and the Reichsbahn chose the Siemens design for series production. AEG built the second series of the E 44.5 sub class, the locomotives E 44 506 to 509 rated 2,200 kilowatts, and the experimental E 244 01 from AEG was the first locomotive in the world with a grid-controlled mercury arc rectifier. The class remained in service until the summer of 1991.