Diesellocomotive 216 067

In the mid-1950s, Krupp developed a new diesel locomotive for Deutsche Bundes- bahn‘s passenger and freight train services. The pre-production series locomotives were produced by Krupp and Henschel in 1960. Initially, the nose of the vehicles was rounded, but a new shape was adopted starting with the tenth locomotive produced. Klaus Flesche designed a new nose for Henschel‘s DH 4000 (V 320) locomotive which had a distinctive bend in it. The same design would later be adapted for V 160 locomotives as well and proved to be more aerodynamic and cheaper to produce. As the head of the design organisation at MAN, Flesche oversaw the company‘s design work starting in 1951.

The locomotives based on MAN‘s design were given Deutsche Bundesbahn‘s black grey and purple red colour scheme, the company‘s standard livery at the time. This class of locomotives was improved upon many times, but its basic shape remained virtually unchanged. For decades, these locomotives bore the various colour schemes of Deutsche Bundesbahn and DB AG.