In the mid-1920s, the Austrian Federal Railways had powerful electric locomotives with the “Arlberg Crocodile” class 1100 for mountain use and with the class 1029 passenger electric locomotives for the lowlands, but there was no suitable locomotive for heavier trains on the valley routes in Tyrol and Vorarlberg available. The new locomotive should be in the same power class as the 1100, but be faster.

Since both the traditional rod drive and the nose-suspended motor were not suitable for higher speeds, another form of transmission had to be found. Siemens-Schuckert in Vienna therefore developed a new type of vertical drive, which became the first single-axle drive for electric locomotives in Austria. The drive consisted of vertical shafts, each of which drove an axle directly via a conical gear wheel. This made it possible to accommodate powered and carrying axles in a common bogie at the same time.

The locomotives had a bogie at each end, which had a carrying axle on the outside and a powered axle on the inside. Two more powered axles were mounted in the middle under the locomotive body. With this chassis, the locomotives had sufficient adhesive weight and good ability to negotiate curves, but the transmissions required constant monitoring of the lubrication and thus made a second crew member necessary.

1570.01 in the Strasshof museum

Mö1997

Thus, the locomotives proved themselves in service, but the power was not sufficient. Therefore, production was stopped after only four examples and the class 1670 was developed as a replacement. The class 1570 locomotives came to the Reichsbahn after the annexation of Austria by Germany and were listed as E 22. They got their original number again in 1953 and were used by ÖBB until 1978. Today only the 1570.01 is preserved in a museum and is located in Strasshof.