The EP 1, also called EP 3/5, were the first electric locomotives of the Bavarian State Railways for the single-phase alternating current of 15.000 volts and 16 2/3 Hz, which is still in use today. In 1912, five examples were built for the first lines with this current system. The first of these lines was the 56 km long Mittenwaldbahn between Garmisch and Scharnitz, on which electric traffic began just four months after it opened. The following year the Ausserfernbahn from Garmisch to Reutte in Tirol was added, which is 94 km long. Both routes have extremely steep inclines with a maximum gradient of around 3.8 percent.

Maffei had produced the Baden A1 in 1910 in cooperation with SSW. On the basis of this, the EP 3/5 with the wheel arrangement 1-C-1 was developed. A very large series motor was used to power the locomotive, which stood on the locomotive frame and had 28 poles. Due to its low speed, it could drive the driving axles directly via a slanted rod, jackshaft and coupling rod. The power came through an induction regulator. A special feature was the electric train heating, since later electric locomotives still had a steam boiler.

The locomotives were taken over by the Reichsbahn in 1925 and classified as E 62 01 to E 62 05. Since they were well suited for the steep secondary lines with their low speed, they remained in use. After the war, the Bundesbahn took over the three remaining examples. The E 62 001 was the last to be retired in 1955 and later came to the Nuremberg Transport Museum. However, since a devastating fire in the engine shed, only the drive unit remains, as the wooden structure burned down completely.

These light passenger locomotives were ordered in 1922 as EP 2 by the Bavarian Group Administration. Since they were procured between 1924 and 1926, they only wore the Bavarian designation for a short time and were subsequently known only as the E 32. In contrast to other electric locomotives from the 1920s, some of the machines remained in use for a very long time, so that the last examples, now designated as class 132, were not retired until 1972.

What was striking about the E 32 was the short and box-shaped body, which, like many Bavarian machines, had beveled corners and ensured an external length of only about 13 meters. Also typical for passenger locomotives from Bavaria were the gangways at the ends, which were later removed to simplify maintenance. Two twelve-pole AC series-wound motors sat on the frame and were connected to a common reduction gear. According to the state of the art at the time, the power was still transmitted via inclined rods and a jackshaft to the three coupled axles. The ability to negotiate curves was improved by connecting one of the running axles to a coupled axle via a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie. 

In addition to the 19 orders from the Bavarian group administration, ten more came from the Reichsbahn, so that 29 units were finally produced. With a maximum axle load of less than 19 tonnes, the E 32 could be used on all electrified routes in Upper Bavaria. Due to the good running characteristics, the gear ratio was changed in 1936 on eight machines so that they could run 90 instead of 75 km/h. These were now referred to as E 32¹. At the end of the war, a total of five machines were lost and all the rest were still in use in Upper Bavaria, so that these 24 units were all taken over by the Bundesbahn. With the exception of two, all the others were still present when the 1968 renumering was carried out. The last eight were retired on August 1, 1972. Road number 132 027 is still in existence today, it carries the old number E 32 27 again.

For the line from Salzburg via Freilassing to Berchtesgaden, which was electrified in 1914, eight passenger locomotives were built, of which four each received the electrical equipment from SSW and MSW. The former were designated as EP 3, the others as EP 4. Since both variants had the wheel arrangement 1-C-2, they were also known as EP 3/6 because three of a total of six axles were powered.

In terms of construction, the locomotives had a similar structure to that found on many electric passenger locomotives at the time. The asymmetrical arrangement of the running gear and the machinery was due to the fact that the train was heated by a boiler that was above the single carrying axis and could be recognized by a chimney. The transformer stood on the bogie. According to the state of the art at that time, the power was provided by a single large motor with 20 poles, which was located in the middle of the locomotive on the frame. It transmitted its power to a jackshaft via sloping connecting rods and further to the three driven axles via coupling rods. With an hourly and continuous output of 690 and 480 kW, respectively, it allowed a top speed of 80 km/h.

Since the main route of the locomotives was very winding, special attention was paid to the optimal chassis design. Thus, the single carrying axle was connected via a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie and the bogie via a Krauss-Lotter bogie with the respective adjacent coupled axle. Since all axles except one were mounted with lateral play, there was no fixed wheelbase and it was therefore possible to run through tight corners without bumps or a tendency to sway.

After the boilers had been removed for further use in hospital trains during the First World War, the trains ran in cold weather with an additional small tank locomotive, which was converted into a heating locomotive. All four EP 3 were taken over by the Reichsbahn and given the numbers E 36 01 to E 36 04. They continued to be used almost exclusively in front of passenger trains and were relocated from the main line to one of the branch lines towards the end of their service life. Their career as a locomotive ended between 1941 and 1943 with the retirement or the removal from the maintenance schedule. Two pieces got a second life after they were converted into non-powered Klima snow plows and continued to be used until around 1980.

Shortly after its founding in 1906, the Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway decided to electrify the Spiez-Frutigen Railway it operated and to do the same on the Lötschberg Railway that was yet to be built. Single-phase alternating current with 15,000 volts and 15 Hertz was chosen as the power system. In the search for a suitable electric locomotive, two examples were ordered for comparison: the Fb 2x2/3 shown here from Krauss and AEG in Germany and the F 2x3/3 from SLM and Oerlikon in Switzerland. The Fb 2x2/3 was a two-section locomotive consisting of two identical and technically independent halves.

Each section sat on two coupled axles and one carrying axle. For better negotiation of curves, the respective outer coupled axle was laterally movable and the carryling axle was radially adjustable and these two were connected to form a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie. The sections were connected by close coupling and pre-tensioned with buffers. With this chassis, the locomotive was superior to its competitor in terms of driving characteristics. The transformers were in the low hoods on the ends, while each section housed a large, low-speed repulsion engine in the engine rooms. The power was transmitted without a gearbox to a crankshaft and finally via the coupling rods to two axles each. With 800 hp per motor, the locomotive could pull 400 tonnes at 40 km/h at 1.55 percent, and 250 tonnes at 2.7 percent. After the most important railway administrations in the German Reich had agreed on operation at 15,000 volts, but 16⅔ Hertz, the line and the locomotive were also switched to the other frequency.

Although the locomotive met the requirements in terms of driving characteristics, traction and control systems, there were repeated problems with overheated bearings in various places. It was also a problem that more than 100 percent of the nominal power was required to start the locomotive. It was thus returned to AEG, where it was transferred to the Prussian State Railway as the EG 509/510 for testing purposes. Since there were plans to electrify the Berlin suburban lines, the locomotive was first used on the Dessau-Bitterfeld line and was fitted with pantographs. Since both sections were independent, journeys were made with one section each in front of and behind the train or with just one section. With the cessation of electrical operations on the line during World War I, the locomotive was shut down and officially retired in 1923.

In the early Twenties, the Bavarian group administration of the Reichsbahn ordered 35 electric locomotives for heavy passenger and express traffic and 34 for heavy freight traffic. The former was procured as the EP 5 and renamed the E 52 in 1927, the latter was already delivered as the E 91. Although the mechanic part for both classes came from Maffei and Krauss, the electrics were standardized as far as possible. This part came from WASSEG, a cooperation between Siemens-Halske and AEG.

The E 52 was specified to transport a 500-tonne train at 90 km/h on the flat and to be able to accelerate it from a standstill to 50 km/h in two minutes on a gradient of one percent. In order to achieve this, it got the same four motors as the E 91 with a total hourly output of 2,200 kW and four driven axles. Four additional axles were required to carry the weight. With a total of 140 tonnes, it is still the heaviest electric locomotive that has ever been in use in Germany.

The driven axles were divided into two groups. Two traction motors each acted on a reduction gear and drove two axles via coupling rods. The tap changer was designed in such a way that only one traction motor is active when starting off in the first notch. These axles were mounted in the frame, with the first being laterally shiftable by five millimeters and the second and third being shiftable by ten millimeters each and having weakened wheel flanges. The bogies could each be moved by 80 millimeters.

With the DRG, the locomotives were only used in Bavaria. During the war, three units had to be written off and after the war, the Bundesbahn had to decommission a further three of the machines that had been taken over due to damage. In 1968 the rest were redesignated as the class 152. As early as 1966, their area of operation was concentrated in Kaiserslautern, where they mainly pulled freight trains. Soon they were also used for piloting and pushing services. After all had been retired by 1973, some were used as stationary transformer locomotives until the mid-1980s. One machine is still preserved, which has been in the Nuremberg Transport Museum since 2014 and is again labeled EP 5.

The next electric locomotive for the Maurienne line came in 1925 from Fives-Lille, the 242 CE 1, which consisted of two halves and was the only one with power transmission by rods. Although the designation “242” is more indicative of a 2-B+B-2 loco, it still had a running axle at the end of each half. There was a large electric motor in each half, while competing locomotives featured a single or double electric motor per driven axle. The power was not transmitted to a rotating jackshaft, but to a reciprocating lever, which in turn drove the driver and coupled axles. A special approach was also taken with the electrics by dispensing with starting resistors and using a special, self-regulating starting system. Whether the special technical solutions of the 242 CE would have proven themselves in operation could not be determined conclusively, since it fell victim to an electrical fire in 1926 after a mileage of 6,889 km and could no longer be repaired. At 164 tonnes, it is still considered the heaviest electric locomotive ever built in France.