Class III was the name of the first locomotives of the Royal Saxon State Railways, which could generally be used for express and passenger trains. These were tender locomotives with the 2-4-0 wheel arrangement that was common for passenger locomotives at the time. As with many early steam locomotives, the III had a taller firebox. The valve gear of the cylinders was of the Allan type and was located within the frame. A special feature of some engines was that the smoke box extended over the buffer beam at the front.

In the original variant, the leading axle was fixed in the frame. Some of the locomotives were later given a Nowotny-Klien steering axle, making them Class IIIb locomotives of UIC classification 1'B. Similar locomotives had previously been built. To slow down the locomotives, a countersteam brake was initially used. From 1892 the conversion to air brakes of the Westinghouse type, which were later used almost exclusively, took place.

The procurement comprised a total of three series in the years 1871, 1872 and 1873. The first and last series were built by Hartmann in Chemnitz and totaled 66 engines. The remaining 21 came from the machine works in Esslingen. When the Deutsche Reichsbahn drew up its renumbering plan in 1923, 30 engines were still available. The majority of these were Hartmann locomotives, which were to be designated as class 34⁷⁶. In fact, however, only one of them was taken over as 34 7611. An example from Esslingen was only classified as a class 50⁷⁰ freight locomotive. Both were retired in the twenties.