Berlin-London-Express
The Berlin-London-Express from Berlin to Hoek van Holland was one of only three luxury trains operated by MITROPA in Germany from 1922 . In 1926 it was converted into a normal express train and later into an FD train .
history
During the First World War MITROPA Founded in 1916, took over from the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits to work with most in the sphere of the Central Powers trains running sleeper and dining car . The luxury trains operated by the CIWL, however, were no longer operated due to the war. After 1919 MITROPA lost most of the wagon runs again, but it still retained the domestic German traffic, which was also operated by CIWL, as well as the wagon runs to some neighboring countries, including the Netherlands .
This situation resulted in fierce competition between the two companies because, despite the basic division of the countries to be served by MITROPA and CIWL, offers from both companies could be used on some routes. The competition culminated in 1928 in the establishment of the Pullman trains Rheingold (MITROPA train, traveling via Cologne – Mainz – Mannheim) and Edelweiss (CIWL, traveling via Brussels – Luxembourg – Strasbourg) between the Netherlands and Switzerland .
Another important traffic was the feeder traffic to the various canal ports along the English Channel as feeder to the ferries to Great Britain . From the 1922 timetable onwards, MITROPA therefore set up the Berlin-London Express under train numbers L 111/112 in order to route part of the traffic between Great Britain and the continent via the German rail network. It was one of three train routes formally operated by MITROPA in the luxury train category. The L 91/92 Scandinavia-Switzerland Express from Sassnitz and Warnemünde to Basel was set up together with the Berlin-London-Express . While the L 91/92 only ran once a week and with sleeping cars, the daily Berlin-London-Express was operated purely as a day train with comfortable 1st class saloon cars . In the same year before, the wagons had already been used in the L 191/198 London-Holland-Munich Express , which ran only a few weeks and only once a week . After leaving Berlin in the early afternoon, the train reached Hoek van Holland around midnight on the route via Hanover, Osnabrück, Oldenzaal and Utrecht. With the connection there to the night ferry to Harwich (where there was a connection to a “boat train” to London in the morning ), it represented the fastest connection between Berlin and London. In the opposite direction, the train started in the morning from Hoek van Holland and reached Berlin late Afternoon.
Despite the luxury offered and the attractive travel times, the train was not an economic success. As early as 1926, the L 111/112 was converted into a normal express train on the same route, and a few years later into an FD train. As FD 111/112 it operated on the way between Berlin and Hoek van Holland until the outbreak of war in 1939, whereby a saloon car from the original luxury train was placed on the express train for a few years and could be used by 1st class passengers for a surcharge.
Operation and fleet
After its introduction in 1924, the Berlin-London Express was the fastest scheduled train in Germany. It reached a cruising speed of 78.2 km / h between Berlin Zoologischer Garten train station and Hanover , and even 78.6 km / h between Hanover and Osnabrück . Class 17.10 express locomotives of the Deutsche Reichsbahn were used between Berlin and Hanover . Between Hanover and Oldenzaal (the Dutch border station), in view of the relatively light train, the class 78 passenger train tender locomotives, which were approved for 100 km / h, were sufficient.
The Berlin-London-Express used saloon cars that were created by converting cars from Kaiser Wilhelm II's court train . Several " entourage wagons" were used for this, in which the imperial entourage had been accommodated before 1918 . These were converted into saloon cars in which so-called half - compartments were furnished with comfortable armchairs for two people as well as a washstand and a small desk. In contrast to the CIWL's Pullman carriages, in which food was served at the seat, and in which every second carriage was therefore fitted with a kitchen, the Berlin-London Express carried a separate dining car, which was also previously used on the imperial court train. Initially, the wagons, originally painted beige and blue like the entire court train, were painted green like normal express train wagons for use on the Berlin-London Express, later the typical MITROPA red was used. The trains usually consisted of up to three saloon cars, a dining car and a baggage car .
After the train was converted into a normal express train, a saloon car remained in the train route between Berlin and Hoek van Holland, the remaining cars were used in the newly established FD trains 23/24 and 25/26 between Berlin and Hamburg. Around 1930, the saloon cars were withdrawn from these trains after the demand had fallen sharply in the face of the global economic crisis .
As with the CIWL luxury trains, a surcharge was required for the saloon carriages in addition to the 1st class ticket, staggered according to the distance. Between Berlin and Hanover, for example, five Reichsmarks had to be paid, and RM 12.50 was due for the entire route to Hoek.
Web links
literature
- Albert Mühl: International luxury trains . EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991, ISBN 3-88255-673-0
- Fritz Stöckl , Claude Jeanmaire: Comfort on rails: sleeping cars, dining cars and saloon cars of the European railways. Publishing house for railway and tram literature, Basel 1970.
Individual evidence
- ^ Albert Mühl: International luxury trains. EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991, according to Stöckl, Jeanmaire, p. 96, the train is said not to have run until 1924
- ↑ according to Fritz Stöckl (F. Stöckl, C. Jeanmaire, Komfort auf Schienen, Basel 1970, p. 96) the train is said not to have differed from a normal sleeper train
- ^ Albert Mühl: International luxury trains. EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991
- ↑ Stöckl, Jeanmaire, p. 96