The class XI was the first Saxon freight locomotive with five coupled axles. It was manufactured by Hartmann in three different versions from 1905, as the search for the optimal propulsion concept for this type of train was still ongoing. In 1905, eight locomotives were manufactured as XI H with a superheated simple engine and two each as XI HV with two-cylinder superheated compound engine and as XI V with saturated compound engine. In the end, the decision was initially made to use the compound engine without a superheater, but series production of further 106 XI Vs only began in 1909.
In order to achieve good running characteristics in curves, the Gölsdorff system, popular with ten-coupleds, was used in the first examples, in which the first, third and fifth axles could be moved. In the production variant, the middle axle could no longer be moved, which simplified production and still led to satisfactory running characteristics. From 1915, production was switched to the variant with superheated compound engine, so that another 29 XI HV were produced by 1918. 28 pieces of the first series were later equipped with superheaters.
Superheaded simple variant XI H
Die Lokomotive, September 1912
After the First World War, almost 50 locomotives went to various countries, where some of them remained in use for a long time. Probably the last was a locomotive that was designated 474.001 by the Italian State Railways FS and was only retired in 1948. At the Reichsbahn, the locomotives were designated as class 570-2 and were used until the 1930s.