Oldie

These are among the oldest locomotives on DB's roster, the venerable Bundesbahn class V60, of which 942 units were built between 1957 and 1963.

The one we see here has probably been retired, sitting in a long row of locomotives with an expired inspection deadline. You can see the archaic power transmission in the form of a jackshaft and coupling rods, which makes for a top speed of just 60kph/37mph. You'd rarely ever see such a machine on the mainline, but they were a once ubiquitous sight in just about every large railyard or branchline. Even today, you can often spot them working behind the scenes, hauling maintenance trains, shuffling cars about, and generally being the same useful little shunters as they used to be back in the day. Their biggest advantage is the fact that they're simply invincible. Or as ~RavensDownfall put it: Most engines have a list of known issues and how to fix them. The V60 has no such list, as it's so simple that nothing ever goes wrong.

Have some 1970s proof:




And some more up-to-date pics from the 21st century, or something like that: