The Class E 19 - the Fast, Powerful Red One! The German State Railroad Company preferred electric motive power more and more for express passenger service. In 1937, 2 each of the class E 19 locomotives were ordered from AEG and Siemens/Henschel. They were intended to serve the planned electric connection from Berlin to Munich via Halle. The maximum speed was planned for 180 km/h / 113 mph and 60 km/h / 38 mph had to be maintained with a fully loaded express train on the grades for the Frankenwaldbahn line. Both firms developed the locomotives on the basis of the proven E 18. The quill drive was strengthened and road nos. E 19 11 and E 19 12 built by Henschel/Siemens were equipped with higher roof superstructures to provide space for resistance brakes. Road no. E 19 01 built by AEG was presented in 1938 and was placed in regular service after successful test runs. All four locomotives had the elegant red paint scheme that identified express locomotives, and the emblem of that time for the German State Railroad Company was ostentatiously present on the ends of the locomotives. The planned test runs at 225 km/h / 141 mph did not take place and the outbreak of World War II precluded further purchases of the E 19. After 1945, these powerful, fast locomotives remained in the West and the German Federal Railroad stationed them in Nürnberg, from where they ran as express locomotives to Regensburg and in Inter-zone service Probstzella. The maximum speed was reduced to 140 km/h / 88 mph, the skirting at the ends was removed, and the paint scheme changed on some locomotives to the German Federal Railroad green in effect at that time and on others to the German Federal Railroad blue. The 119 was the most powerful electric express locomotive on the German Federal Railroad until the class 103 was placed into service. Two of these interesting locomotives can still be admired today. Road no. E 19 01 in the Berlin Technology Museum and road no. E 19 12 in the Nürnberg Transportation Museum. |