Rheingold Express
Encyclopedia
The legendary Rheingold (Rhinegold) was a famous train riding between Hoek van Holland
near Rotterdam
and Basel
, Switzerland, a distance of 662 kilometres (411.3 mi). It ran along the Rhine River via Arnhem, Netherlands and Cologne, Germany using special luxury coaches. It was named after Richard Wagner
's Das Rheingold
opera, which romanticized the Rhine.
- Freiburg - Baden-Baden
- Karlsruhe
- Mannheim
- Mainz
- Cologne
- Düsseldorf
- Duisburg
- Zevenaar
- Hoek van Holland
- by boat: Harwich
s FFD 101 and FFD 102) started service on May 15, 1928. In the Netherlands
it was pulled by the 3700-3800-3900 steam locomotive
series, in Germany
by the Baureihen 183 (Badic IV h, between Mannheim and Basel) and BR 184-5 (Bavarian S 3/6
, between Emmerich and Mannheim) and in Switzerland
by Ae 4/7
electric locomotive
s. In 1930, the BR 01
(01 077-181) was used between Mannheim and Basel and permanently from 1935 on, and the NS 3900 in the Netherlands.
The luxurious Pullman
type salon coaches had a distinct cream/blue livery in 1st and 2nd class each measuring 23.5 m (77.1 ft). At both ends (one behind the locomotive) there was a blue luggage wagon. Some cars had a kitchen, with one kitchen serving two cars. Mitropa
Waiters served the passengers. The cars were the most technically advanced the DRG had at that time, but were less advanced than the later (from 1939) Schürzenwagen (skirted coaches), typical World War II
cars. The interiors were designed by artists and architects of the time, and besides being very luxurious were also phenomenally spacious. In total there were 26 coaches and three luggage wagons. In these days, the trip took 11 hours. At first, the cars had the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
and MITROPA inscriptions with the DRG logo. Around 1931 the name RHEINGOLD was printed on the coaches and the locomotive tender, and the DRG logo remained. In the fall of 1938, due to the start of World War II the train service was cancelled.
. First still in the cream/blue livery pulled by the new Class E 10.12
series, later (1972 onwards) in cream/red and pulled by the imposing Class 103
. The Rheingold even had a special dome car
, unique on German railways.
Hoek van Holland
The Hook of Holland , also known in English as the Hook, is a town in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is situated on the North Sea coast, on the north bank of the Nieuwe Waterweg ship canal. The town is administered by the municipality of Rotterdam as a district of that city...
near Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland, a distance of 662 kilometres (411.3 mi). It ran along the Rhine River via Arnhem, Netherlands and Cologne, Germany using special luxury coaches. It was named after Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
opera, which romanticized the Rhine.
Route
Basel SBBBasel SBB railway station
Basel SBB is the central railway station in the city of Basel in Switzerland. Trains run by the Swiss Federal Railways to destinations within Switzerland use this station, as well as Deutsche Bahn Intercity-Express trains to Germany as well as Zürich and Interlaken...
- Freiburg - Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
- Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
- Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
- Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
- Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
- Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
- Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
- Zevenaar
Zevenaar
Zevenaar is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, near the border with Germany.- Population centres :*Angerlo*Babberich*Giesbeek*Lathum*Ooy*Oud Zevenaar*Zevenaar...
- Hoek van Holland
Hoek van Holland
The Hook of Holland , also known in English as the Hook, is a town in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is situated on the North Sea coast, on the north bank of the Nieuwe Waterweg ship canal. The town is administered by the municipality of Rotterdam as a district of that city...
- by boat: Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
Pre-WWII
The first Rheingold (trainTrain
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s FFD 101 and FFD 102) started service on May 15, 1928. In the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
it was pulled by the 3700-3800-3900 steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
series, in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
by the Baureihen 183 (Badic IV h, between Mannheim and Basel) and BR 184-5 (Bavarian S 3/6
Bavarian S 3/6
The Class S 3/6 steam locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways were express train locomotives with a 4-6-2 Pacific or 2'C1' wheel arrangement....
, between Emmerich and Mannheim) and in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
by Ae 4/7
SBB-CFF-FFS Ae 4/7
The Ae 4/7 was a universal locomotive of the Swiss Federal Railways, employing the so-called Buchli drive.Last but not least thanks to this drive construction, invented by Jakob Buchli, it was one of the longest-lasting locomotives...
electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
s. In 1930, the BR 01
DRG Class 01
The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft's BR 01 steam locomotives were the first standardised steam express passenger locomotives built by the unified German railway system. They were of 4-6-2 "Pacific" wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2′C1′ h2 in the UIC classification. The idea of...
(01 077-181) was used between Mannheim and Basel and permanently from 1935 on, and the NS 3900 in the Netherlands.
The luxurious Pullman
Pullman Company
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
type salon coaches had a distinct cream/blue livery in 1st and 2nd class each measuring 23.5 m (77.1 ft). At both ends (one behind the locomotive) there was a blue luggage wagon. Some cars had a kitchen, with one kitchen serving two cars. Mitropa
Mitropa
Mitropa is a catering company best known for having managed sleeping and dining cars of different German railways for most of the 20th century. Since its reorganization in 2002, the company only provides stationary food services for rail and road customers. The name Mitropa is a derivative of ""...
Waiters served the passengers. The cars were the most technically advanced the DRG had at that time, but were less advanced than the later (from 1939) Schürzenwagen (skirted coaches), typical World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
cars. The interiors were designed by artists and architects of the time, and besides being very luxurious were also phenomenally spacious. In total there were 26 coaches and three luggage wagons. In these days, the trip took 11 hours. At first, the cars had the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I....
and MITROPA inscriptions with the DRG logo. Around 1931 the name RHEINGOLD was printed on the coaches and the locomotive tender, and the DRG logo remained. In the fall of 1938, due to the start of World War II the train service was cancelled.
Post-WWII
The service was reestablished in 1951 as Rheingold-Express trains FD 163/164, later F 163/164, F 9/10 and F 21/22. Most cars survived the war but nevertheless the coaches in Western Germany were painted over and rebuilt to dining coaches Gesellschaftwagen, long distance coaches (F trains) and short distance train coaches (D trains). The Rheingold now used skirted coaches and was pulled by the Deutsche Bundesbahn steam locomotives BR 01, BR 01.10, BR 03 and BR 03.10 and the BR 41 between Cologne and Kaldenkirchen. In 1954 "Express" was dropped.TEE Rheingold
In 1962 the Rheingold became established again as a link between Switzerland and the Netherlands on the pre-war route. In 1965 it became a Trans Europ ExpressTrans Europ Express
The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express, is a former international railway service in Europe. At its maximum extent, in 1974, the network comprised 45 trains, connecting 130 different cities.-Origin:...
. First still in the cream/blue livery pulled by the new Class E 10.12
DB Class E 10
The class E 10 is an electric locomotive of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, introduced in 1952. It belongs to the Einheits-Elektrolokomotiven program and was built for express passenger service. In 1968 the series was redesignated as class 110 and class 112...
series, later (1972 onwards) in cream/red and pulled by the imposing Class 103
DB Class 103
The Baureihe 103 is a class of electric locomotives in Germany, originally operated by Deutsche Bundesbahn. For a long period, they were perceived as flagships of the DB rolling stock.- Development :...
. The Rheingold even had a special dome car
Dome car
A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...
, unique on German railways.