Edelweiss (train)
Under the name Edelweiss (also: Edelweiss-Express ), a pair of trains ran between Switzerland and the Netherlands via Alsace and Luxembourg from 1928 to 1979 with a war-related interruption . Until 1939 the train operated as a luxury train operated by the International Sleeping Car Company (CIWL) . After the Second World War, initially run as a normal express train , the Edelweiss became one of the first train pairs in the new Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) system from 1957 . In 1979 he was hired.
Pullman suit of the CIWL
The CIWL had built up a whole network of luxury trains since 1883, starting with the Orient Express . Up until the First World War, however, these were almost exclusively pure sleeping car trains for long distances. Only a few saloon cars for daytime traffic ran on these trains . It was not until after the war that CIWL began to build up a network of luxury trains for day-only traffic, which were referred to as the Pullman Express or Pullman suit . She used so-called “ Pullman cars ”, luxuriously equipped open - plan cars , some of which were equipped with a kitchen . The trains did not have dining cars , it was served at the seat. One car with and one without a kitchen formed what is known as a coupling position .
After the First World War, CIWL and the German Mitropa agreed on a delimitation of the countries and routes served by sleeping and dining cars. Cars from both companies operated in the Netherlands and Switzerland. After individual experiments with luxury trains such as the Berlin-London-Express, Mitropa concentrated on the operation of its sleeping and dining cars, which were placed in normal D and FD trains. The only exception was the FFD Rheingold from Amsterdam to Switzerland, for which it procured special saloon cars with on-site service in 1928.
The Rheingold first ran on May 15, 1928, on the route mainly on the right bank of the Rhine from Amsterdam - Mannheim - Basel . Exactly a month later the Edelweiss drove for the first time from Amsterdam via Brussels , Luxembourg and Strasbourg to Basel. This means that both trains competed on the important connection from the Dutch canal ports to Switzerland. The Edelweiss had thereby km with 812 between Amsterdam and Basel, in comparison with the 779 km Rheingold slightly longer route, which also by the crossing of the Ardennes between Namur and Luxembourg and the northern Vosges between Metz was operationally much more demanding and Strasbourg. Nevertheless, the journey times were largely comparable. In 1939 the Rheingold needed 9 hours and 46 minutes to travel south from Amsterdam to Basel, while the Edelweiss was only about twenty minutes slower at 10 hours and 8 minutes. To the north there was only about a quarter of an hour between the two competing trains.
Just two weeks after its introduction, the train, often referred to as the Edelweiss Express , was extended from Basel to Lucerne . The connection was not completely new, however, there had been through trains between the Netherlands and Switzerland via Belgium and Luxembourg since 1863 . From summer 1929, the 1st class coaches drove the Edelweiss to Zurich, a coaches first class was still to Lucerne. The 2nd class Pullman cars ended in Basel. Between Basel and Zurich, SBB ran the through cars from the Edelweiss for several years together with the Zurich through cars from the Rheingold . In 1939 the train was stopped after the outbreak of war.
TEA Edelweiss
After the Second World War , the Edelweiss ran as a normal express train. In addition to the dining car, the CIWL provided Pullman cars until 1952, which were added to the normal seating cars.
The President of the Dutch State Railways , Franciscus den Hollander , proposed the introduction of a European network of high-quality diesel multiple units in 1953. For the summer schedule of 1957, the state railways of Belgium ( NMBS / SNCB ), the Netherlands ( NS ), the Federal Republic of Germany ( DB ), France ( SNCF ), Italy ( FS ), Luxembourg ( CFL ) and Switzerland ( SBB ) introduced the first TEE Trains a. Most of these trains were not completely new routes, but took over the routes of previous express trains. One of them was the Edelweiss , which operated as TEE from June 2, 1957.
For the 1050 kilometers of the train run from Amsterdam to Zurich, the TEE needed a time of 9 hours and 30 minutes with 13 intermediate stops and traveled at an average speed of 110 km / h.
From 1974, the Edelweiss train route was shortened to the route from Brussels to Zurich. At the same time, the TEE Iris was introduced on the same route . The hope of attracting members of parliament and employees of the European Parliament as passengers on their journeys between Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg was not fulfilled. Both trains had declining passenger numbers, so that at the European timetable conference in 1977 it was proposed to discontinue both trains or to convert them into normal express trains. On May 26, 1979 the Edelweiss was discontinued, its timetable was taken over by a normal express train . In contrast to the Iris , which was only converted into a two-class express train in 1981, the train name Edelweiss was no longer used for one of the EuroCity trains introduced in 1987 .
The train ran as TEE under different numbers. From 1957 until the 1971 summer schedule, it drove as the TEE 30/31. From May 23, 1971, it was numbered 90/91. Simultaneously with the shortening of the train route to Brussels from May 26, 1974, the Edelweiss finally operated until it was discontinued as TEE 90/93.
vehicles
Until 1939, the CIWL only used its Pullman cars, which it had acquired from 1925, as vehicles . Since these were equipped with a kitchen and on-site service , there was usually no separate dining car and, moreover, only baggage cars . As a day train, the Edelweiss did not bring any sleeping cars. As a rule, the Edelweiss consisted of at least four Pullman cars in the form of a first and second class coupling position and two luggage cars.
The trains in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France were hauled by steam locomotives . The NS used their four-cylinder 2'C locomotives of the NS series 3700 , the Belgian state railway the heavy Pacifics of the NMBS / SNCB series 10 . In France, AL used its AL S 14 series Pacifics . Occasionally, the two copies of the AL S 16 were also used, also Pacific locomotives, but not four-cylinder compound machines, but two-cylinder locomotives. The SBB in Switzerland used Ae 4/7 series electric locomotives , as the Basel – Zurich route had been electrified since 1926.
After the Second World War, the Edelweiss continued to run individual Pullman cars until 1952. After that it consisted of conventional express train cars as well as dining and luggage cars.
In order to save travelers time-consuming locomotive changes at the borders , according to the joint decision of the state railways involved in the TEE system, only diesel multiple units should be used. However, it was not possible to agree on a common vehicle, so that in 1957 a total of four different vehicle types were built for TEE traffic. The SBB and the NS jointly developed the SBB RAm TEE / NS DE IV diesel multiple unit , of which the SBB procured two and the NS three copies. These operated from 1957 to 1974 as TEE Edelweiss between Zurich and Amsterdam.
In 1974 the railways involved switched the TEE Cisalpin to a locomotive-hauled train. The multi-system railcars of the SBB RAe TEE II series that were previously used there were thus free for new missions. Therefore, on May 26, 1974, they took over TEE Edelweiss and Iris . On both connections they drove up to the respective setting.
literature
- George Behrend: History of Luxury Trains . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1977, ISBN 3-280-00918-9
- Jürgen Franzke, Jörg Hajt: The big TEE book. 50 years Trans-Europ-Express , Heel, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 3898803058
- Maurice Mertens: Trans Europ Express Alba Verlag, 1987 ISBN 3-87094-114-6 (licensed edition)
- Albert Mühl: International luxury trains. EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991, ISBN 3-88255-673-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ George Behrend: History of the luxury trains. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1977, p. 120
- ↑ Wilfried Biedenkopf: Across old Europe. The international train and through car runs as of the summer of 1939. Publishing house and office for special traffic literature Röhr, Krefeld 1981, p. 32 f.
- ↑ a b George Behrend: History of the luxury trains. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1977, pp. 132-134
- ^ Brian Hollingsworth, Arthur F. Cook: Das Handbuch der Lokomotiven , Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-138-4 , p. 318
- ^ Albert Mühl: International luxury trains. EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991