The story of 78 468 can be traced back to a very successful 1912 design by the firm Vulcan-Werft AG in Stettin (today's Szczecin, in Poland). Although the design was conceived for light and fast traffic on the nearby island of Rügen, the locos were soon put to use on heavy commuter traffic in various conur-bations. This was thanks to the good acceleration and equally capable speed running in both directions. Our 78 468 was built in 1923 by Henschel and Son in Kassel, and started service with the Reichsbahn on 24 January 1924 in Gleiwitz (Gliwice in Poland). In 1944 she transferred to the Wuppertal, first to Hagen-Eckesey and, in 1956, to Vohwinkel. In the same year, she was equipped with apparatus enabling her to work push-pull trains. She stayed around the Wuppertal for 22 years, serving Nordrhein-Westfalen. But from the end of 1966 until her retirement on 10 July 1969 she was in Hamburg, also on push-pull services. Luckily she escaped the cutter's torch and went to the Hamburg History Museum. Her exterior was renovated but she was not maintained in serviceable condition. In 1998, Historische Eisenbahn Oberhausen acquired her from Deutsche Bahn AG, which had already sent her to the steam loco repair shops in Meiningen for a complete inspection. As a result of financial support, she became the property of Oberhausen local authority in the Ruhr and was employed by the Emscher Park Eisenbahngesellschaft (EPEG) for use on tourist trains in Nordrhein-Westfalen. At the end of 2007, EPEG asked us if we saw the possibility of using her jointly. In 2008 we took over responsibility and a diesel loco hauled 78 468 into our workshops in January. Following extensive work on her boiler and running gear she passed her inpsection and, since the summer of 2008, has once again become operational on special trains.