Product Features and Details
The passenger carriage design that predominated until after the second world war - the compartment coach - has more or less been forgotten today, and it is seldom seen in use. The first railway carriages were compartment coaches, based on the post carriage's body. Several of these carriage bodies were placed one behind another on railway running gear. The compartment doors opened straight onto the platform so that passengers could disembark and embark quickly at the stations. The Preußische Staatsbahn used compartment coaches in various designs. Two and, later, three-axle compartment coaches were used in passenger trains. Four-axle compartment coaches were introduced from 1890 onwards for express trains. After several prototypes, the first compartment coaches were manufactured from 1895 onwards on the basis of official drawings. These first "normal" coaches were followed from 1900 onwards by a total of 700 slightly longer and improved coaches based on official design numbers D.I.21 to D.I. 23. The bodies met the requirements of the relevant class, though they all had a number of design features in common. All coaches had the same frame and the elevated brakeman's cab. These 700 coaches and others of similar design were used in the express trains throughout Prussia, and some of them ended up in the neighbouring states of Saxony, Baden and Bavaria. Although many compartment coaches fell into the hands of the allied forces after the first world war, the majority went to the Deutsche Reichsbahn, where they were put back into service on first-class express trains. It wasn't until 1930 that there were enough four-axle modern compartment coaches in use that some could be assigned to regular passenger train services. Many were also used by the Bundesbahn for its passenger services. When new coaches had been delivered and the conversion programme commenced in the mid-fifties, the compartment coaches were finally taken out of service.
