Ostend-Cologne-Pullman-Express
The Ostend-Cologne-Pullman-Express was a Pullman-Express running from 1929 to 1939 . The train operated by CIWL was the only Pullman Express that was ever used in Germany on a scheduled basis and during its existence it was part of the fastest land connection between London and Cologne .
history
Starting in 1925, the CIWL built up a network of day trains with newly purchased Pullman cars , which supplemented its network of luxury trains , which had previously been mainly served by sleeper trains . In addition, there were individual through car runs of Pullman cars in normal express trains. This network extended mainly over France , Italy , Switzerland and the Benelux countries. The CIWL also set up other pullman suits in Romania and Egypt .
After the First World War, the sleeping and dining car service in Germany was transferred to Mitropa , which only agreed with the CIWL in 1925 on a division of the respective areas of interest. The international traffic to Belgium, Luxembourg and France was assigned to the CIWL, the traffic to the Netherlands to Mitropa. Especially in the lucrative traffic to the canal ports for traffic between Great Britain and the continent, both companies fought intense competition.
In 1927 a new express train was introduced between Ostend and Cologne, which only carried 1st and 2nd carriage classes. This was replaced on June 27, 1929 by the new Pullman Express, which represented the fastest and most comfortable day connection between London and Cologne or the Rheinisch-Westphalian industrial area. In Ostend there was a connection to and from the canal ferries to Dover .
With the outbreak of the Second World War , the train was stopped and ran for the last time on September 3, 1939. Like most Pullman trains, it was not set up again after the war. In a certain way, however, the TEE Saphir, established in 1957 with the Ostend – Cologne – Dortmund route, can be seen as a successor , which was also primarily used for transporting the canal ferries to Dover.
Timetable
The train schedule was designed so that it enabled a morning departure from Cologne Central Station and London Victoria . With the connection from the canal ferry, the Pullman Express left Ostend in the late afternoon. The train's arrival in Cologne in the evening offered connections to various night trains to Berlin, Hamburg or Leipzig. In the opposite direction, the train ended in Ostend in the early afternoon, after changing to the ferry and the Southern Railway train from Dover, London was reached in the evening. This made it possible for the CIWL to make the circuit between Cologne and Ostend relatively inexpensive with a single car set.
Over the years, the train could also be accelerated somewhat.
| 1929 | 1931 | 1939 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London Victoria | from | 10:00 | 10:30 | 10:30 |
| Ostend Quai | from | 16:12 | 16:25 | 16:51 |
| Köln Hbf | on | 21:58 | 21:58 | 21:35 |
| Köln Hbf | from | 9:22 | 10:30 | 11:08 |
| Ostend Quai | on | 15:00 | 15:45 | 15:46 |
| London Victoria | on | 21:00 | 21:26 | 21:54 |
Vehicle use
Like the other Pullman suits introduced by CIWL in 1925, the Ostend-Cologne Pullman consisted of a Pullman car and a baggage car. As a rule, only Pullman cars of the “ Étoile du Nord ” type were used, the baggage car was provided by the SNCB . When it was first introduced, the train consisted of two so-called “Couplages”, pairs of one Pullman car with and one without a kitchen. One of the cars was 1st class, the other three were 2nd class. Due to the weak demand during the global economic crisis , the train set was reduced to a coupling position as early as the early thirties, consisting of a 1st class car without a kitchen and a 2nd class car with a kitchen. Occasionally, when the number of passengers was high, a third Pullman car was added, which was then referred to as the "Triplage". From 1929 to 1933, the train also ran the through coaches for the Nord-Express from Ostend to Berlin, Riga and Warsaw between Ostend and Brussels .
The comparatively light train was hauled by the heaviest SNCB locomotives in Belgium. The Belgian State Railways deploy their NMBS / SNCB series 10 Pacifics, which they purchased from 1910 , between Ostend and Aachen . On the short section from Aachen to Cologne, the Deutsche Reichsbahn changed locomotives several times. Initially, the former Prussian locomotives of the 17.0-1 and 39.0-2 series were used, and finally, from 1936, the new standard locomotives of the DR series 03 .
literature
- 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, ISBN 3-88490-110-9 .
- Albert Mühl: International luxury trains . EK-Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1991, ISBN 3-88255-673-0
- Renzo Perret: The history of the CIWL. The Pullman car. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-44005-612-0