Although the first prototypes had already been built in 1926, this series was not procured on a larger scale from 1937 onwards. At that time, the most important railway lines had been upgraded so that such a heavy machine could run on them.
From 1942 onwards, locomotives were procured in simplified form (44ÜK), omitting, among other things, the wind deflectors and the front cab side window.

Our locomotive was put into service in Göttingen in 1941 and came into the French zone after the war. In 1968 the locomotive was renumbered 044 404-2. In 1975 a back-pressure brake type Riggenbach was installed. This is a braking system which, through a combination of several measures, brakes the locomotive by compressing air in the drive cylinders, similar to the engine brake on a car. Just 2 years after installation, the locomotive was taken out of service in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck. Shortly afterwards it became an exhibit in our museum.