Product Features and Details
Prototype: German Federal Railroad (DB) prototype bi-level car, 1st/2nd class. In the green paint scheme after 1956. Car no. 30 999.
Model: Era IIIb. This car has scale, highly detailed construction. It also has separately applied grab irons. The car has prototypical changes to the maker lights and the window frames. Two 66719 lighting kits can be installed in the car. Minimum radius for operation 360 mm / 14-3/16". Complete buffer beam equipment for car ends is included as detail parts. The car has NEM coupler pockets with a close coupler mechanism. Length over the buffers 303 mm / 11-15/16".
Bi-Level Cars - On 2 Levels through the Economic Miracle.
The Lübeck-Büchener Railroad had good results as early as the Thirties with bi-level passenger cars. After clearing away the worst of the war damage, the most important goal for the new German Federal Railroad was to renew the motive power and rolling stock to handle the growing number of railroad passengers at the start of the "Economic Miracle". The firm Wegmann & Co in Kassel, Germany together with the Minden Transport Test Institute developed a bi-level test train in 1950 consisting of three cars, each with a length of 22.4 meters / 73 feet 5-7/8 inches. The train had seating for 310 passengers. Three more prototypes were also built by Wegmann in the same year, and they had the subsequent standard length of 26. 4 meters / 86 feet 7-3/8 inches. Although the width had to be decreased compared to the shorter cars due to the lengthening of the car bodies, 148 seats could be built in the 3rd class car, and 138 seats in the 2nd/3rd class car. In addition to 6 seats in 2nd class and 36 seats in 3rd class, the third car had a baggage area, a galley, a pantry, and a dining area with 31 seats in the upper deck. The use of heat-resistant glass in the upper deck windows and the introduction of sliding windows, i.e. with a sliding upper part in the rest of the 359 passenger, three-car train was viewed as new features compared to older materials. The six bi-level cars painted in an elegant steel blue made up fast passenger trains on the route Dortmund - Frankfurt or Fulda, but were soon brought together in commuter service for the Hamburg District. In 1957, the galleys, pantries, and dining areas were converted to passenger seating, the cars were given a green paint scheme and they led a shadowy existence in the Cologne District, where they were in regularly scheduled service on the Eifel route. Although a bi-level train was distinguished by a lower requirement in trucks, generators, and brake equipment compared to a normal train, and thereby incurred lower costs per seat, the German Federal Railroad did not seriously consider further use of bi-level cars for the time being. It was not until the start of the Nineties that bi-level cars made inroads in commuter and regional service. Today, the most up-to-date designs dominate the DB Regio's roster- but more about that in another Trix chapter ...
AC wheel set 4 x 700150.
