The Badische Lokal-Eisenbahnen AG, operator of the Albtal Railway south of Karlsruhe, ordered three Mallet tank locomotives in 1897. These three locomotives were completed by a fourth one in 1900. They got the numbers 5 to 8 with the superscript suffix ^kk standing for meter gauge and Mallet. They had been built by the Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe and had two groups of two driving axles each and without carrying axles. For the maximum gradient of nearly four percent they had a counter-pressure brake that was removed in 1930.

After the line was electrified in 1911, they were only used for freight trains and for heavy commuter trains in times of high demand. After No. 6 had been lost in World War I when it had been in service with the field railways, the others were retired between 1956 and 1966 when the line was re-gauged to standard gauge. Today No. 7 is owned by the Deutsche Eisenbahn-Verein (DEV) and is being restored since 1997.