The class R 3/3 locomotives were small freight tank locomotives that were primarily intended for shunting operations and were therefore also given the designation “R”. They were almost identical to the D II^II, which had been built since the end of the nineteenth century. They were six-coupled saturated locomotives without carrying axles and with a Westinghouse air brake.

The first 15 locomotives were delivered in 1906 and a further three followed in 1913. After the founding of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the Bavarian group administration had further need and so the majority of production, 90 locomotives, was only delivered between 1921 and 1923. The latter had an axle load increased from 15 to 16 tonnes with otherwise identical performance data. When the locomotives of the pre-war variants were renumbered, they were assigned the class 89⁷ and the newer ones became 89⁸. Some remained in Austria after the Second World War, where they became class 789 while retaining their road numbers. The Polish state railway took over some of the locomotives from Silesia as Tkh5.

In Germany, they continued to be used by the Bundesbahn as well, so that almost all of them were still in service at the end of the 1950s. However, they were then taken out of service within a relatively short period of time, as larger numbers of diesel locomotives were now available for shunting service. The last locomotive was therefore taken out of service in 1964. 89 801, former number 4701, is the only surviving example today. It was restored to its original livery and lettering and was kept in the DB Museum Nuremberg until 2005. After a fire, the locomotive was refurbished in Koblenz and is now located there.