DB, steam locomotive class 56.20, 3-dome boiler, ep. III, with DCC sound decoder.

In connection with the development of the five-coupled freight locomotive of the G12 class, the desire arose for a four-coupled machine for medium-heavy service. Thus, the 1'Eh3 locomotive of the G12 class was derived from the 1'Dh3 locomotives of the G83 class. However, these locomotives fell well short of expectations in terms of performance and fuel consumption, so that after 85 units had been built, preference was given to the simpler two-cylinder type G82 (1'Dh2). A total of 846 locomotives of this type left the workshops of several German locomotive plants by 1928. The main areas of use were central and western Germany in the Cologne, Essen, Hanover, Münster, Altona, Magdeburg and Halle(Saale) directorates. There, they mostly handled high-value freight traffic, but were also used in front of passenger trains. After the Second World War, more than 500 class 5620-29 locomotives remained in the Federal Republic of Germany; by 1963, they had been displaced by other locomotive designs and retired. They could be observed in service with the DR in the German Democratic Republic until 1970, some of them as shunting locomotives with special steps on the right front of the locomotive.