After the war, when efforts were made in the Federal Republic of Germany to procure new steam locomotives, one of the designs submitted by four locomotive manufacturers was for the new Class 23. Drawing inspiration from the two standard locomotives of the same class from 1941, the decision was made to adopt the wheel arrangement 1’C1’, but with a modern welded construction. The Henschel company in Kassel received the order to create the construction drawings in September 1949 and delivered the first series of 15 machines in 1950. In addition to heavy passenger and light express train services, it was also used in freight transport. It was approved for speeds of up to 110 km/h and had a power output of 1,314 kW. Of the total of 105 locomotives produced by 1959, the 23 102 was one of the last steam locomotives put into service by the Deutsche Bundesbahn.