| Inter-Zone Express Train Passenger Car Set, Type Y/B 70.
Prototype: 5 different design express train passenger cars of different types, paint and lettered for the German State Railroad of the GDR DDR (DR/GDR), for the Inter-Zone train D 263 Hamburg - Büchen - Hagenow Land - Schwerin - Wittenberge - Nauen - Potsdam - Doberlug-Kirchhain - Dresden. 1 type Y/B 70 passenger car with a baggage compartment, 2nd class. 2 type Y/B 70 passenger cars, 2nd class. 1 type Y/B 70 passenger car, 1st/2nd class. 1 type WR dining car. The cars look as they did around 1976/77.
History:
The division of Germany after the Second World War through the building of the GDR wall and the isolation of West Berlin created a rather bizarre situation for the former German-German relationship and two German states. As a result, the residents of West Berlin were surrounded and could no longer move freely, and at the same time easy travel to West Germany was suddenly stopped. In order to enable citizens in West Berlin to travel by rail to the Federal Republic of Germany or vice versa, transit trains were created. They were seen as a type of corridor train and were reserved for foreign travelers.
The term interzone trains was first introduced in 1946 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn (East) in the Soviet occupation zone. The name referred to a continuous passenger train that ran between Berlin and foreign destinations. Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich were considered such destinations. The construction of the Wall in the 1960s changed the possibility of use for GDR citizens, as they initially required an interzone pass and, from 1953, an exit permit from the GDR. The offer was further expanded and until the Wall was built there were trains from Güstrow or Saßnitz Hafen via Lübeck/Herrnburg to Hamburg, from Berlin via Büchen/Schwanheide to Hamburg, from Leipzig via Wolfsburg/Oebisfelde to Düsseldorf or Aachen, from Berlin via Helmstedt/Marienborn to Aachen/Cologne, Paris and Hanover; from Berlin to Basel, from Leipzig to Mönchengladbach and from Frankfurt to Leipzig or Weimar via the Bebra/Wartha border crossing; then from Munich via Ludwigsstadt/Probstzella to Saßnitz Hafen, via Leipzig to Berlin and to Dresden. Trains between Munich and Leipzig and Dresden also ran via Hof/Gutenfürst.
The construction of the wall completely changed the way interzonal trains operated, with border controls being significantly intensified. As soon as the trains crossed the German-German border, they were also used for internal traffic in the GDR. The trains sometimes had long routes and did not run directly via West Berlin, but used the Berlin outer ring and stopped at what was then Potsdam Central Station or at the Berlin-Schönefeld airport station or the Friedrichstrasse station in East Berlin. In the course of the 1980s, the possibility of small border services was created, with the fall of the Wall, interzonal trains were included in the regular timetable, and there have been no more traveler restrictions of any kind since then.
Model presentation
Märklin/Trix announced the DR express locomotive 01.5 for the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 2015. The machines have been available on the market for around a year and a half, but there was still a lack of a suitable set of carriages. Both companies did not have the DRs Y-cars in their range, which is why they collaborated with the model railway manufacturer Tillig, who produces these passenger cars for Märklin.
As part of the autumn 2016 innovations, a one-off series of five DR passenger cars from Tillig was announced. The five passenger cars represent the route of the D 263 from Hamburg via Schwerin, Wittenberg to Dresden. The train route sign already printed on the wagon indicates the following route: “Hamburg – Büchen – Hagenow Land – Schwerin – Wittenberge – Nauen – Potsdam – Doberlug-Kirchhain – Dresden”. Märklin has announced the set under item number 42980, and the RRP is €249.99.
The set consists of five Deutsche Reichsbahn cars. This includes a 2nd class carriage with luggage compartment, 2 2nd class carriages, a 1st/2nd class carriage. class and a Mitropa dining car. The models are all individually packaged. According to the accompanying operating instructions, individual carts were also provided with accessories bags; the handle bars have to be assembled yourself. In any case, the cars are delivered in Tillig packaging. Despite the uniform paintwork, all cars are clearly printed or labeled. |
