Product Features and Details
SNCF "BUGATTI" Présidentiel, XB 1003, 1938, gray / red, digital
FULGUREX produces these railcars in small series from brass in N gauge. The complete interior design (with lighting) is certainly a challenge, despite the built-in DCC decoder (an analog version can also be ordered) and the drive unit.
As always with FULGUREX models, the series is limited to a total of 220 pieces.
Ettore Bugatti, the epitome of sports and racing car history, also influenced rail traffic with his technology. In 1933, Bugatti presented the construction of a revolutionary rail vehicle in its factory, commissioned by the then railroad company ETAT. A very aerodynamic light-weight railcar, powered by 4 Bugatti-Royal engines with a total of 800 hp. In the years 1933-1935 a total of 8 railcars of this type, which were now given the nickname "Présidentiel" (the first passenger was the President of France Mr. Albert Lebrun), were delivered to the ETAT company. In regular operation, or the route Paris-Deauville, 221 km, was driven in 2 hours! The PLM company was also interested in the "Bugattis" and ordered 3 two-part compositions for the railcar, which were used on the Paris-Lyon route from 1934 onwards. When the SNCF was founded in 1938, the railcars were taken over and used on the heavily used routes as a kind of "prestige vehicle". The last vehicles were taken out of service in the mid-1950s. A railcar was restored to its original ETAT condition and can now be viewed in the "Cité du train" railway museum in Mulhouse.
