When Germany took over the railway network in Alsace-Lorraine following their victory in the Franco-Prussian War, there was a need to procure locomotives and coaches because the French had withdrawn all the railway stock. Originally the intent was to use the 12 locomotives (nos. 16 to 23) built by Strousberg to 'Strousberg norms' for the Halle-Sorau-Guben railway. They were no longer in service there, because the Reich railways purchased them immediately after their delivery. The locomotives were given the numbers 30 to 41 and christened with the names of various German rivers.
In 1906 the locomotives were renumbered as 501 to 512. In 1912, numbers 504 and 509 were again renumbered to 101 and 102. All other locomotives had already been retired by then. Locomotive 102 was still occasionally working in 1918 (as a so-called Auswaschlokomotive) in the Mühlhausen area.