Steam locomotive 86 1617 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. From 1928 to 1943, nearly all German locomotive manufacturers delivered a total of 775 machines of this class to the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft. Constructively, the 1,000-horsepower locomotives were designed for a speed of 70–80 km/h, making them suitable not only for their primary use on branch lines but also on main and feeder routes. By the early 1950s, 164 locomotives of class 86 were still available in East Germany. In 1970, 162 machines received a computer-compatible operating number, with decommissioning starting in 1973.