marklin Kof II Mode D'emploi page 6

Small Diesel Locomotive
At the end of the 1920's the German State Railroad Company had a great
need for small, powerful locomotives. At intermediate yards these locomotives
were to be used in operations with one-man crews consisting of unskilled
personnel. These operations would be light switching duties, serving industrial
sidings, short transfer trains on main lines, etc.
The railroad was venturing onto technically new ground with the planning of
small locomotives with motors. The development eventually went beyond
various experimental locomotives to standard design locomotives of the follo-
wing groups:
Group I = small locomotives up to 39 horsepower
Group II = small locomotives with 40 to 149 horsepower
Decisions were made concerning dimensions, frame design, method of
power transmission and the arrangement of subassemblies and operating
controls.
In 1932 the German State Railroad placed orders for the first ten small locomo-
tives in Group I with carburetor motors. Tests with various types of drive motors
and transmissions followed. The following system of designations resulted:
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Type of locomotive
K = small locomotive
Propulsion system
b = carburetor motor (gasoline)
ö = diesel motor (oil)
d = steam motor
s, later a = electric motor with power supplied from a
storage battery
Transmission system
e = electric transmission from an internal
combustion motor
f = fluid drive for power transmission
Thus, Köf II means:
Small locomotive, Group II, with diesel motor and fluid hydraulic
power transmission.
From 1932 to 1938 the German State Railroad purchased 887 small locomo-
tives in Group II with various types of drive motors and transmissions, but
with a unified body design. During the war another 226 units were added
from 1939 to 1944.
1
Prototype