| Märklin Model Railroad Rheingold Offshoot Train Train Set
German Federal Railroad (DB) Rheingold offshoot train TEE 16 from Salzburg to Emmerich. German Federal Railroad (DB) class 112 electric locomotive. Express locomotive with aerodynamic ends, with the so-called Bügelfalte / Pants Crease. Without a continuous rain gutter, without skirting, and without buffer cladding. Continuous row of vents consisting of 7 Klatte vent grills. Road number 112 488-2. Two type Avmz 111.1 compartment cars, one type Apmz 122 open seating car, and one type WGmh 854 entertainment car. Crimson/ivory paint scheme. The train looks as it did in 1986.
Source: www.maerklin.de
Starting in May of 1965, the Rheingold with its rich tradition ran as a Trans-Europe-Express (TEE) in the two-color TEE paint scheme of crimson below the window line and ivory in the window band. Starting May 23, 1982, the train run was reduced to the routing Amsterdam – Basle SBB. One year later there were only two TEE trains left: the Mediolanum (Munich – Milan) consisting of FS cars and the TEE 7/6 Rheingold, now seen as more of a tourist attraction. In 1983, all of the Rheingold cars were given an orange stripe below the windows. To increase the attractiveness of the Rheingold again, the DB reactivated the Munich Offshoot as TEE 17/16 for the Summer Schedule of 1983. Its slogan now went Romance instead of Speed, because the route ran from the separation station of Mannheim through the Neckar Valley to Stuttgart, from there through the Rems Valley to Aalen, further along the single track line to Donauwörth and then rapidly via Augsburg to Munich. Intermediate stops were Heidelberg, Eberbach, Heilbronn, Schwäbisch Gmünd, and Nördlingen. Initially, the offshoot train only ran in the summer schedule period. With the Summer Schedule of 1984, the division of the train was done in Mainz. Since the commercial success of the offshoot train remained elusive, the DB tried a new variant on June 2, 1985: The offshoot train now ran all year and used the more direct and faster route Mainz – Heidelberg – Stuttgart – Ulm – Munich and the train was even given a summer extension to Salzburg. Yet with the start of the summer schedule on May 31, 1987, the last TEE Rheingold still running in Germany including its offshoot was dropped completely with the introduction of the EuroCity trains. In the club car beer on tap and snacks were served from the small bistro to satisfy passenger thirst and hunger. Music and folklore groups were engaged especially from time to time to provide entertainment. In the beginning, class 112 electric locomotives were used as motive power for the offshoot train between Mannheim and Stuttgart. They were a modified version of the proven class 110 units with more streamlined, aerodynamic box-style construction (Bügelfalte / Pants Crease) and trucks adapted for 160 km/h / 100 mph. |
