Product Features and Details
Prototypes: German Federal Railroad (DB) "City-Bahn" type Bnrzb 778.1 commuter car, 2nd class, "City-Bahn" type ABnrzb 772.1 commuter car, 1st/2nd class, and "City-Bahn" type BDnrzf 784 commuter cab control car, 2nd class.
Models: The cars have the new, longer length. The minimum radius for operation is 360 mm / 14-3/16". The cars have underbody details specific to the different cars. The trucks have disk brakes. The cars are ready for installation of the 7319 current-conducting coupling or the 72020/72021 current-conducting couplers, 73406 pickup shoes, the 73400/73401 (2 per car) lighting kit, and the 73409 marker light kit. The cab control car has triple headlights that change over to dual red marker lights by means of a friction switch; these lights will work in analog and digital operation. The cab control car has maintenance-free, warm white LEDs. All of the cars come individually packaged in a master package. Length over the buffers for each car 28.2 cm / 11-1/8". DC wheel set: 4 x 700580 for each car.
One-time series.
City-Bahn. Branch lines have always been problem children for the German railroad. In 1984, the German Federal Railroad took a new approach to increase the attractiveness of service on little used routes. The project went under the name "City-Bahn" and initially one route for selected for this service: Cologne - Gummersbach. "Silberlinge" / "Silver Coins" commuter cars were used as rolling stock and were rebuilt to the latest standard at that time. A train café was set up in one of the cars and the exterior of these trains was borrowed from the paint scheme for the S-Bahn in the Rhine/Ruhr area. The paint scheme for the locomotives was adapted to that of the trains in order to achieve a high level of recognition for the "City-Bahn" product. Class 218 diesels were used on the route Cologne - Gummersbach. The railroad was able to register a clear increase in passengers thanks to the "City-Bahn", and this increase was the result of the dense service at regular intervals. Without a doubt the "City-Bahn" concept kept rail service alive on routes threatened with abandonment until it was replaced by its successor, the "Stadt-Express" or "City Express".
The class 218 "City-Bahn" locomotive and a "City-Bahn"" car to go with this car set can be found in the Märklin H0 assortment under item nos. 39182 and 43818. This model can be found in a DC version in the Trix H0 assortment under item no. 23434.
