Product Features and Details
Prototype: Railsystems RP GmbH (RP) Series 218 multi-purpose locomotive. Diesel-hydraulic locomotive with roof design suitable for the engine MTU 16V 4000 R40. With offset exhaust gas. In current color ("Nose Art").
Model: Formvariante, new roof design for the presentation of the 4th construction series. Built-in digital decoder and noise generator for operation with DCC, Selectrix and Selectrix 2. Motor with flywheel, 4 axles powered, adhesive tape. Headlights and rear lights with the direction of travel changing, warm white LEDs, driver's lighting, digital switchable. Kinematics for Coupling. Attached handles. All functions can also be switched in digital format SX2. Length over buffers 102 mm.
Highlights:
- Form variant.
- Digital sound with many features.
- Complex paint finish.
Like no other diesel locomotive, the 218 series has shaped the image of the DB off the electrified main routes over the past 40 years. Both in doubletraction in front of heavy InterCity trains in the Allgäu and on the Marschbahn or in regional traffic before transshifts - the 218s determined the picture of the train promotion with diesel locomotives. In the meantime, however, their ranks have considerably diminished. With a service age of about 40 years many were patterned and only a few got a second chance after sale. One of the lucky ones is the 218 469, which had to quit service on 25 February 2016 at the DB factory in Kempten. Railsystems RP GmbH in Gotha purchased the locomotive there, overtook them and has since used them as a rental locomotive in spot traffic. In the course of the year 2016, the red paint on the side walls added remarkable technique pictures as well as a golden bar on the sides of the fronts. The pinup girl, however, who is unilaterally attached to the helmets, deserves special attention on a shark-like torpedo as "Betty Boom", reminiscent of the ornaments of the American bombers and WWII fighters (Nose art). The past of the 218s goes back to the construction of the V 160 series delivery, when the first consideration was to replace the steam heating with an electric traction heater within the framework of the emerging structural change. After experiments with the V 162 series (from 1968: 217) and V 169 (from 1968: 219), after the development of a 2. 500 hp diesel engine 1968/69 of Krupp twelve machines of the series 218 with this engine delivered. In the case of 218 001-012 the special units for the heating system could be omitted; the heating generator was hydraulically coupled to the traction diesel. Bogies, transmissions, brake systems and cooling system had been adapted to the higher engine power and the higher speed to be expected. The twelve pre-production machines were followed by the 398 series machines between 1971 and 1979. In addition to Krupp, Krauss-Maffei and Rheinstahl-Henschel were involved in the construction. Of course, during the long procurement period, numerous detail improvements were made to the series. At first, the 2,500 hp engine was built
