Lok E 52 33 as used by the DB in 1960. Photo: DB/BZA München

For heavy passenger traffic on the electrified lines of the The Königlich Bayerische Staatsbahn; Bavarian State Railways (K.Bay.Sts.B.), the DRG ordered 35 locomotives from Maffei (mechanical) with electrical equipment from AEG and Siemens Schuckert. The locomotives entered service between 1924 and 1926 in Munich and Garmisch as EP5 21501 to EP5 21535. Starting in August 1926, they were renumbered E 52 01 to E 52 35 and were based in Munich. Later they were replaced by the more modern E 17 and E 18 in fast train service. By the mid-1930s, the E 52 saw service in local passenger and freight service. At the end of the war, 29 of the E 52 survived and they were based in Stuttgart, Nürnberg and Pressig-Rothenkirchen.

The "Fränkischen" E 52 were used as helpers on the Frankenwaldbahn to Probstzella (BR 96 territory). As of the Fall of 1966, most of these locomotives were based in Kaiserslautern and Frankfurt/Main. In 1968, they were redesignated as BR 152 (no relation to the modern Era V BR 152.) until they were taken out of service. Some of them were relegated to use as stationary transformers. At 140 tons and 17,210 mm (56.46 ft), they were the heaviest unit-frame locomotives. EP 5 21534 is now in the Nürnberg Transportation Museum.

Specifications

New DRG construction, after 1968 became DB 152

Weisbrod, Bäzold, Obermayer, "Das Grosse Typenbuch Deutscher Lokomotiven," ISBN 3-334-70751-5, 1995, p. 259.

"Die elektrischen Personenzuglokomotiven der Baureihe 152 der deutschen Bundesbahn," Märklin Magazin, 2/83, p. 37 – 39.