Diesel locomotive 118 514 of the railway company of the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Reichsbahn).

■ Reserve locomotive for GDR government train
■ 4-axis design with fine wheelsets
■ With round door cutout
■ Finely detailed model with many separately attached plug-in parts
■ With horizontal handle rails at the front
■ Switchable headlight/tail light with DIP switch

They were normal production locomotives, yet they were protected like a state treasure - the government locomotives of the GDR. The home depot of the three government locomotives was the Lichtenberg depot and this belonged to the Ostbahnhof depot as an deployment centre after 1970. What was not so well known is that there was another class V180 / 118 in government service. The 118 514 was a reserve locomotive and served in various depots in the Berlin area and was only used as a government locomotive in emergencies. When one of the three main R-train locomotives had to stay in the RAW, the 118 514 was "detached" from normal scheduled service to the R-train brigade.