steam loco BR 55.25 DRG

Prototype: The steam locomotive Preußische G 8.1 was a further development of the G 8 by Robert Garbe and was initially referred to as the "reinforced normal design". It had a larger boiler and the resulting higher weight was intentional in order to also increase the tractive effort through the higher frictional weight. Because of the high axle pressure, however, the G 8.1 could only be used on main lines. In addition to heavy freight traffic, heavy shunting service was later added as a field of application.
In 1925, the Reichsbahn took over 3121 Prussian locomotives as class 55.25-56 with the road numbers 55 2501-5622 (without 55 3367), the twelve Mecklenburg locomotives (two of which the railway had bought from the Prussian State Railway in 1920) were classified as class 55.58 with the numbers 55 5801-5810 and 55 5851-5852. Among the Prussian locomotives were ten G 8.1s of the Reichseisenbahnen in Alsace-Lorraine. In 1935, a further 43 locomotives from the Saarland were added to the Reichsbahn's stock as 55 5623-5665, the last of which originally came from the Reichseisenbahnen in Alsace-Lorraine. During the Second World War, numerous locomotives from Poland and Lithuania were added to the 55 class as replacements. Locomotives taken over from Belgium were given the numbers 55 5666-5699. After 1945, the Deutsche Reichsbahn classified another locomotive from Poland as 55 5898 and several from Belgium and France as 55 7251-7260 and 55 8170.
Between 1934 and 1941, a total of 691 G 8.1s were fitted with a front running axle to increase the top speed and reduce the average axle load. The converted locomotives were re-designated as class 56.2-8. In addition to the wartime locomotives of the 42 and 52 series, the G 8.1 was also used in large numbers in military traffic throughout Europe, including the Eastern Front.
More than 1,000 vehicles still existed after the end of the Second World War. In 1968, the Deutsche Reichsbahn still had 150 vehicles and the Deutsche Bundesbahn 50, which it designated as the 055 series from 1968.