Conversion car (DB)

As Umbauwagen in were German Railways (DB) three- or four-axle coaches called that by the mid-1950s conversion of earlier compartment cars and fast cars from the provincial railroad period incurred.

prehistory

1954: BR 03 with three-axle Prussian compartment cars . They served as donor wagons for the three-axle conversion wagons.

1961: BR 78 with three-axle conversion cars, which shaped local traffic for years from 1954.

The German Federal Railways (DB) had after the Second World War until the 1960s, in addition to a distinct lack of coaches to contend with a significant aging of the same. More than 13,000 two- and three-axle vehicles as well as around 900 four-axle compartment and express train wagons from the Länderbahn era still made up the majority of the wagon fleet.

The few center-entry cars that were procured for express train traffic in 1953/1954 were by no means sufficient to renew and rejuvenate the out-of-date equipment for passenger traffic. The limited financial means available to the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the scarcity of materials that prevailed after the Second World War did not allow a comprehensive renovation at that time.

The Bundesbahn head office then commissioned the Federal Railroad Central Office (BZA) in Minden to submit a draft for converting the two- and three-axle prewar wagons, from which only the wheels and the chassis of the vehicles were to be taken over. The car body, however, should be replaced by a new building. Through the combination of newly developed and contemporary car bodies with the simultaneous reuse of underframes of the country railway wagons, modern passenger wagons could be built that would shape passenger traffic in Germany for many years.

After the success of the three-axle conversion wagons, the DB also wanted to convert the large number of four-axle passenger wagons of different types that were still available in all federal railway departments from existing state railways according to the same principles.

Models for comparable conversion programs came from France , Austria (see frame wagon ) and the Netherlands . The success of the Deutsche Bundesbahn's conversion program also convinced the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR), which started its own conversion program ( Reko wagons (DR) and modernization wagons ) from 1957/1958.

Three-axle conversion wagons, type 3yg

Three-axle conversion car
Numbering:	AB3yg: 37001-38119 B3yg: 85801-90537 BD3yg: 99201-99926
Number:	6582
Manufacturer:	AW Hannover AW Karlsruhe AW Ludwigshafen AW Saarbrücken AW Limburg AW Neuaubing
Year of construction (s):	1953-1959
Genre :	3yg
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length over buffers:	13,300 mm
Height:	4,045 mm
Width:	3,090 mm
Total wheelbase:	7,500 mm to 7,900 mm (depending on the design)
Service mass:	AB3yg: 18.3 t B3yg: 18.0 t BD3yg: 17.7 t
Top speed:	Single car: 85 km / h, closely coupled car pair: 100 km / h
Seats:	AB3yg: 24 (1st class) + 24 (2nd class) B3yg: 62 BD3yg: 24

construction

Preliminary remarks

From the two- and three-axle donor trolleys, only the underframes, which were brought to a uniform size of 13 meters in length, were taken over. Two-axle chassis were given an unbraked middle third axle , and the wheelbase of the individual wagons varied between 7,500 and 7,900 millimeters, depending on the type of origin. The central axis was laterally displaceable in order to achieve good driving characteristics in curves. The plain bearing wheel sets from the Länderbahn era were refurbished and placed in new axle box housings. As early as 1954, more than a thousand cars were handed over to the company. By 1958, the number had grown to 6,500 units, 25 percent of the total number of Deutsche Bundesbahn cars.

Three types (AB3yg, B3yg and BD3yg) have been implemented.

B3yg

A first test car was presented in 1953. The serial production of the genus B3yg began in 1954 in the maintenance workshops Hanover , Karlsruhe , Limburg , Ludwigshafen, Neuaubing and Saarbrücken. A total of 4737 cars were manufactured up to 1959.

AB3yg

The series production of cars of the type AB3yg took place from 1954 in the repair shops in Karlsruhe and Ludwigshafen. A total of 1118 cars were manufactured up to 1958.

BD3yg

The half-luggage wagons were built in the Limburg, Hanover and Saarbrücken repair shops from 1954. A total of 683 cars were manufactured up to 1958.

Car bodies

Welded, steel car bodies were made, which were pulled up to the buffer beam. The end doors, designed as revolving outer doors, were indented towards the longitudinal axis of the car. The BD3yg wagons were also provided with four-leaf folding doors on both sides of the luggage compartment . The end wall transitions were closable with roller shutters and equipped with rubber bulges and movable transition bridges. The B3yg cars had seven windows on each side of the car. All built-in windows were translation windows without counterbalancing. A window section was reserved for the toilet, this window was opaque and only tilted inwards in the upper area.

The three-axle conversion wagons were used almost exclusively in the bottle or chrome oxide green color of the German Federal Railways of the 1950s and 60s until they were retired. Only the "German Wine Route" cars existed in ocean blue and beige and ran as a block train.

Electrical equipment

The three-axle conversion wagons were equipped with steam heating . Some cars were also given an electric heater (this can be recognized by the additional "e" in their generic designation ). Electrical energy was generated by a direct current generator per car. Both fluorescent tubes and incandescent lamps were used for lighting.

Interior decoration

Three-axle conversion car, 2nd class (type B3yg) with 2 + 3 seats per row

The interior was not symmetrical , but rather divided into a smaller part, 4,620 mm long and a larger part, 6,160 mm long. The larger part could be used either as 1st class, 2nd class or as a luggage compartment, depending on the design. Ceilings and walls were clad with hardboard , with the walls in 1st class additionally being equipped with artificial leather and in 2nd class with wallpaper . The ceilings were made of ivory. Linoleum was used as the floor covering . The 2nd class seats were covered with brown synthetic leather and the 1st class with gray upholstery. The seating was carried out face-to-face . The seat allocation was 2 + 3 in 2nd class and 2 + 2 in 1st class. There was a small vestibule between the seating compartments. The windows were covered with curtains. Due to the small need for luggage racks in local transport, only longitudinal luggage nets were installed. In all cars, a toilet was installed on one side at the end of the car instead of a seating group in the smaller compartment. The 14.5 m² luggage compartment had stowage walls with bike racks and luggage racks. In the service compartment there were two tables with swivel chairs. Furthermore, there were two side windows and two front wall windows in the conductor's compartment.

commitment

passenger traffic

The three-axle conversion wagons were used in local traffic in all federal railway departments on main and secondary lines . Numerous wagons were provided with a control line for use in push-pull trains , which led to the addition of the subsidiary symbol "b". Since, with the exception of a single test car (CPw3ygef), conversion control cars were never acquired , they were used in push-pull trains mostly in combination with control cars from the category of Silberlinge (e.g. BDnf), but predominantly with center entry cars (BDymf).

In order to achieve better running properties, from 1955/1956 two carriages were closely coupled , whereby the screw coupling was preloaded with three tons of preload. This made it impossible to separate the pairs during operation, but the close coupling made it possible to achieve a higher speed of 100 km / h instead of the 85 km / h usual for single cars. The cross-connected electrical equipment of the 3yg cars only made it possible to form a closely coupled pair with each other, whereby you were free to choose your car, so that all possible combinations except BD3yg + BD3yg were possible: AB + AB, AB + B , B + B, AB + BD, B + BD.

The retirement of the wagons was planned for the mid-1970s, but could not be realized due to the lack of new wagons. In 1967 over 6000 three-axle conversion cars were still in use. It was not until the mid-1980s that the last wagons used for rush hour traffic at the BASF plants in Ludwigshafen am Rhein were withdrawn from service. 50 cars were sold to the OSE .

Railway company car

2014: DB Bahnbau caravan , developed from a type B3yg conversion car

Even before the last 3yg wagons were retired from passenger train services, around 2000 three-axle conversion wagons were converted for use by construction trains in the repair shops in Offenburg , Kassel and Weiden (Oberpf.) From 1969 to 1984 . The wagons were equipped for a wide variety of purposes (site supervisor vehicles, site crew leader vehicles, office vehicles, sleeping and living wagons, equipment vehicles, workshop vehicles, washing and drying vehicles, kitchen sidecars, changing vehicles, etc.) and served as temporary accommodation and workshops near railway construction sites. They initially remained chrome oxide green (RAL 6020) and were painted ocean blue (RAL 5020) from the 1970s. Some of the cars later became golden yellow (RAL 1004). To this day, a few copies are still in use for DB Bahnbau or private track construction companies.

Four-axle conversion wagons, type 4yg

Four-axle conversion car
Type B4yg conversion car (75 911) of the Museumseisenbahn Hanau e. V.
Number:	1821
Manufacturer:	AW Hannover AW Karlsruhe AW Neuaubing
Year of construction (s):	1955-1961
Genre :	4yg
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Length over buffers:	19,460 mm
Height:	4,045 mm or 4,062 mm (depending on the design)
Width:	2,990 mm
Service mass:	AB4yg: 28.4 t B4yg: 28.6 t or 31.2 t (depending on the design) BD4yg: 30.5 t
Top speed:	120 km / h
Seats:	AB4yg: 24 (1st class) + 36 (2nd class) B4yg: 72 BD4yg: 36

construction

Preliminary remarks

The construction and interior are almost identical to the three-axle conversion car, which is why only the differences are discussed below.

Three types (AB4yg, B4yg and BD4yg) were implemented.

AB4yg

In 1955, a mixed-class test car (AByg501) with gooseneck bogies was supplied by the Hanover repair shop. Two further prototypes of this type (AByg502) with Minden-Deutz bogies (MD41) built in the Karlsruhe repair shop followed in 1957. The AB4yg cars were produced in series from 1958 (AByg503) by the Hanover, Karlsruhe and Neuaubing repair shops and without exception equipped with Minden-Deutz bogies (MD41).

B4yg

The series delivery of type B4yg cars started in 1957. The B4yg cars (Byg514) manufactured in the Neuaubing repair shop kept their Prussian and American type bogies and the original plain bearing wheel sets and weighed 31.2 t. The second series cars (Byg515), built from 1959 by the Neuaubing and Karlsruhe repair works, were equipped with Minden-Deutz bogies and weighed 28.6 t. The last series of B4yg wagons (Byg516) was built solely by AW Karlsruhe and also equipped with Minden-Deutz bogies.

BD4yg

The half-luggage wagons were built entirely in the Neuaubing repair shop from 1958 and were divided into the types BDyg531, BDyg532 and BDyg533. All wagons retained the Prussian or American bogies from their donor wagons. In later years some wagons were also equipped with Minden-Deutz bogies (MD41), which became vacant after other types of wagons were taken out of service.

Car bodies

The car bodies were 10 cm narrower than the three-axle vehicles. Between the indented end doors there were five (in 1st class four) windows and then an also indented, double revolving outer door as a central entry. The BD4yg car had an additional four-wing folding door for the luggage compartment between the end door and the center entry. The luggage compartment windows were secured against break-ins from the inside with iron bars.

The four-axle conversion wagons were only used in the bottle or chrome oxide green color scheme of the DB from the 1950s and 60s until they were retired and were therefore not painted in ocean blue-beige or any other color.

Electrical equipment

The four-axle conversion wagons were equipped with both steam heating and electric heating. Electrical energy was generated by two direct current generators per car and built-in batteries enabled the power supply even when the car was stationary. Both fluorescent tubes and incandescent lamps were used for lighting.

Interior decoration

Four-axle conversion car, 2nd class (type B4yg) with two seats per row on both sides

The 2nd class seats were covered with synthetic leather and the 1st class with plush . The seat distribution was 2 + 2 in 2nd class and 2 + 1 in 1st class, each in a face-to-face arrangement. The B4yg cars had a toilet room for passengers at each end of the car, while the AB4yg and BD4yg cars were only equipped with one passenger toilet. The 17.5 m² luggage compartment had storage walls with bike racks and luggage racks. In the service compartment located there, there were not only small front windows but also two tables with swivel chairs.

commitment

1986: DB class 212 with a local train consisting of 4yg wagons

The four-axle conversion wagons were used in all Federal Railway Directorates on main and branch lines. At first they were preferred for express train services and later migrated to local trains. In the absence of a control line, the cars were not used in push-pull trains. The last highlight of the four-axle conversion wagons came at the time of German reunification , when they were used as reinforcement wagons in various trains. The retirement of the wagons was planned for the mid-1980s, but could not be realized due to the lack of new wagons. In 1988, a total of 421 four-axle conversion cars were still in use. The last wagons were taken out of service at the end of 1990 because it was no longer worth converting the doors to automatic door locking. Most recently, four-axle conversion wagons were used in the Cologne and Frankfurt am Main Federal Railway Directorates. On the Lahntalbahn , in the Cologne area and in the Eifel as well as z. B. between Frankfurt am Main and Ober-Roden one could still find the last active four-axle conversion wagons.

Special car

Allgäu-Zollern Railway

As part of a regional express train concept of the DB for the Allgäu-Zollern-Bahn , some four-axle conversion wagons with a special label "Allgäu-Zollern-Bahn" and a light green decorative stripe were used from 1984 onwards. Furthermore, the interiors of the cars in the AW Cannstatt were refurbished.

Middle car for ET 65 and sidecar for ET 85

Conversion car of the original type AB4yg. ( Painted in red based on the intermediate car of the ET 65 )

Some conversion cars were used in the wine-red railcar paint of the DB as intermediate cars for the ET 65 (465) series or as a trailer for the ET 85 (485) series. In the 1960s a total of 24 4yg cars went into operation as intermediate cars with the designation EB 65 (865) in Stuttgart suburban traffic coupled with type ET 65 railcars. Eight B3yg cars, which were prepared in the AW Cannstatt, were used with the designation EB 85 (885) with type ET 85 electric multiple units.

Cell car type Z-56

The type Z-56 prisoner transport car was a special type of conversion car . It was developed on the basis of the 3yg, but only had two axles at the request of the justice administration. Six cars of this type were built in AW Hannover-Leinhausen (numbers 10 061 to 10 066). The wagons had 15 cells with 36 places as well as a duty room for the overseers. The cars were taken out of service in 1963 following a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court that declared it unconstitutional to move prisoners between prisons by rail. At least one of the cars was converted into a railway company car.

Whereabouts

Private railways

Conversion car for the Hersfeld circular railway in Seepark Kirchheim

After being taken out of service by the DB, some of the conversion cars were sold to private railways. Three-axle conversion cars were used, for example, by the Hersfelder Kreisbahn , the Frankfurt-Königsteiner Railway , the Mindener Kreisbahn and the Ilmebahn . The Tegernsee-Bahn also had three four-axle conversion cars in operation.

Museum railways

Comprehensive lists and further information on existing conversion cars are available in the literature and on the Internet. For example, three-axle conversion wagons can be seen at the historical railway in Frankfurt , the museum railway in Hanau , the Nassau Tourist Railway and the museum railway in Hamm and four-axle rebuilding wagons at the DBK historical railway and the museum railway from Bremerhaven – Bederkesa .

foreign countries

Type B3yge three-axle conversion wagons were sold to the state railways of Greece (ΟΣΕ) and Yugoslavia (JŽ-ЈЖ). The Syrian state railway Chemins de fer Syrienne (CFS) also received three-axle vehicles from the DB. Some four-axle conversion cars went to Italy and the Netherlands.

Country	society	number	Numbers	Remarks	image
Democratic Republic of Congo	SNCC	?	?	1,067 mm
Greece	ΟΣΕ	50	401-450 50 73 23-20 321-370	Sold in 1966
Italy	FSE	?	?
Italy	Satti Torino	?	?
Netherlands	Hoogovens Stoom IJmuiden	7th	76101 (ex Byg 515 (5080 29 12 197-9)) 76102 (ex Byg 515 (50 80 29 12 628-3) 76103 (ex Byg 516 (50 80 29 03 013-9)) 76104 (ex Byg 516 (5080 29 03 006-3)) 76105 76109 76113
Netherlands	Wildlands	2	ex B3y, ex BD4yg 98210 (50 80 82-12 218-7)	ex Hanau depot
Syria	CFS	?
Yugoslavia		162	?	Emergency housing in Banja Luka after 1969 earthquake

literature

• Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 82 (2006): Conversion and Reko wagons from DB and DR . EK-Verlag GmbH, Freiburg im Breisgau.
• Modellisenbahner Extra 1 (2013): DB Klassiker - Die Umbauwagen . VGB Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH, Fürstenfeldbruck.

See also

• Generic symbol of German railway wagons
• Reko-Wagen (DR)

Web links

Commons : Umbau-Wagen Deutsche Bahn  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• 4yg conversion car of the DB - technical information

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af} Götz Gleitsmann (1989): From old to new - The history of the DB conversion wagons . Part 1: Creation and three-axle conversion car. In: Eisenbahn-Illustrierte 5/89 . Eisenbahn-Illustrierte-Verlags-GmbH, Berlin.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w} Modelleisenbahner Extra 1 (2013): DB Klassiker - Die Umbauwagen . VGB Verlagsgruppe Bahn GmbH, Fürstenfeldbruck.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj} Eisenbahn-Kurier Special 82 (2006): Umbau- und Reko - DB and DR carriages . EK-Verlag GmbH, Freiburg im Breisgau.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Michael Dostal (1998): DB's three-axle conversion car (AB3yg). In: Wagen. The archive of German passenger and freight cars (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Michael Dostal (1998): Four-axle conversion car, 1st and 2nd class of the DB. In: Wagen. The archive of German passenger and freight cars (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v} Wolf Dietger Machel (1994–2015): AB4yg, B4yg and BD4yg. In: secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa} Wolf Dietger Machel (1994–2015): AB3yg, B3yg and BD3yg. In: secondary and narrow-gauge railways in Germany (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Karl Ulrich Pierini (2009): Classic on three legs - the history of the 3yg conversion wagons of the DB and their pairing. In: Eisenbahn Magazin 12/2009 . Alba publication, Düsseldorf.
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah} Michael Dostal (1998): Three-axle conversion car DB (B3yg). In: Wagen. The archive of German passenger and freight cars (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
10. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Michael Dostal (1998): Three-axle conversion car with a luggage compartment. In: Wagen. The archive of German passenger and freight cars (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
11. ^ Erhard Born (1955): Passenger coaches. Part 1: Development in Germany . VDI-Z, Volume 97, No. 13. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf
12. ↑ Railway company cars of types 400 to 499 and 500 to 599 , partly ex 3yg (bahndienstwagen-online.de)
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Encyclopedia of the Railways (1997): Four-axle conversion wagon 1st and 2nd class of the DB . Atlas Publishing House, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne.
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z} Götz Gleitsmann (1989): From old to new - The history of the DB conversion wagons. Part 2: Four-axle conversion wagons. In: Eisenbahn-Illustrierte 6/89 . Eisenbahn-Illustrierte-Verlags-GmbH, Berlin.
15. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Michael Dostal (1998): Four-axle conversion car, 2nd class, DB. In: Wagen. The archive of German passenger and freight cars (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Michael Dostal (1998): Four-axle conversion car with a luggage compartment. In: Wagen. The archive of German passenger and freight cars (loose-leaf collection) . GeraMond Verlag GmbH, Munich.
17. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Herdam (1989): Ypsilon Gustav. In: Eisenbahn Magazin 2/1989 . Alba publication, Düsseldorf.
18. ↑ ^{a b c d} Götz Gleitsmann (1989): From old to new - The history of the DB conversion wagons. Part 3: The prisoner car Z-56. In: Eisenbahn-Illustrierte 10/89 . Eisenbahn-Illustrierte-Verlags-GmbH, Berlin.
19. ↑ Received 4yg wagons: List and general information ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (wutachtalbahn.de), information on received conversion cars of type B4yg-56 (eisenbahn-museumsfahrzeuge.de), information on received conversion cars of type B4yg-58 (eisenbahn-museumsfahrzeuge.de) and information on received conversion cars of type B4yg-58a ( eisenbahn-museumsfahrzeuge.de) 
20. ↑ Bahn Era, issue 30, p. 38.
21. ^ Youtube video of a train in Kinshasha
22. ↑ turntable
23. ↑ Pictures on Railfaneurope
24. ↑ Balkanmodels.biz
25. ↑ Bahnbilder.de
26. ↑ Picture on Flickr
27. ↑ turntable
28. ↑ Hub Forum