DB Class ETA 150

The battery railcar of the ETA 150 series (from 1968 series 515 ) were very common in the German Federal Railroad. The motor coaches provided a very high level of comfort (low noise despite a quite typical howling of the DC motors, due to their high by the accumulators own weight good track position and no dirt harassment). They drove on main and branch lines.

They were really popular with the passengers. The cars had the nickname "Battery Blitz", " acid bomb", " socket InterCity ", " Flashlight Express " or " Maya the Bee " ( due to vehicle noise ).

History

Due to years of good experience ( the Prussian state railways already made ​​1907 battery railcars in service - series ETA 178 on the German Federal Railways) and evaluations of the results of the prototype series ETA 176 presented the DB from 1953 to 1965 232 railcars under the type designation ETA 150 with associated 216 control car with the type designation ESA 150 in service.

The railcar sets were used preferably on flat land lines of DB. Mountain roads were very rarely traveled there because of the higher power consumption and thus lower reach. This amount primarily only stationed in Wanne- Eickel vehicles that came in the room Wuppertal to use, as well as the sets on the Aartalbahn and those on the Innerstetal railway in the Harz from BW Hildesheim.

Main applications were next to the Ruhr and Schleswig -Holstein, eastern and southern Lower Saxony, eastern Rhineland- Palatinate (Westerwald ), Südhessen and South Baden. The last rail car drove in the field of the transport association Rhein-Ruhr ( VRR) until 1995. Within West Germany they were found mainly in Worms. For about a year (1955/1956) were two of them in Ludwigshafen.

The railcar inverted 1978-1988 on the railway line Aachen -Maastricht.

In 1968, the series designation of the railcar in 515, 815 in the control car was changed.

Due to the unfavorable compared to the Prussian Wittfeld battery railcar weight distribution - the batteries were in the car body center instead of on the bogies - bent the frame in the last years of use to sag, what the vehicles eventually the nickname " potbelly pigs " gave.

Construction and designs

The car body is symmetrical, that is, to the central center entrance adjacent to two per passenger spaces. Towards 's Cab 1 is also located, accessible from the central platform abortion. Follows also in this car half after the passenger - luggage room. Provides further access doors and cabs that are not spatially separated from the entry areas on both ends of the coach. The individual sections of the passenger compartments are mutually separated by rotating or sliding doors.

Externally, only the two first build ETA 150 001 and 002 differ by a differently designed front end, as well as by a continuous and sublime running trim (similar to those at the rail buses ) from all other vehicles. The ETA 150.5 and 150.6 also was a four-part folding door at the end of boot instead of the usual three-piece doors for installation. The biggest differences are in the layout of the interior, which apart from a variant, are always executed as open:

  • "Zero Series ": ETA 150001-030 with 92 seats, excluding the second class in the assembly 2 3
  • "Hamburg ": ETA 150101-112 and 120-138 with 66 seats, 2nd class, and eight seats in first class to the luggage compartment end. Arrangement each 2 2
  • Type "Bremen": ETA 150113-119, 501-508, 581-603 and 639-651 with 46 seats, 2nd class ( 2 2) in a car half and 19 seats 1st class (2 1) in the other.
  • Type " 6 compartment first class ": ETA 150509-580, 604-638 and 652-661 with 28 and 22 seats in 2nd class (2 2). At the center platform in the direction of the flight deck 2 followed by a 3 0 1st class compartment with side corridor.

When the control car only 2nd class leading there were only two versions. Firstly, the ESA 150001-020 with a seating 2 3, and thus 92 seats, on the other ESA 150021-216 with a capacity of 74 seats and the more comfortable 2 2 seating.

Color variations

The railcar sets were delivered in maroon color. From 1975, some of the vehicles were repainted in beige ocean blue. A few vehicles were painted white and mint green just before the phase-out by the then current DB color scheme, and sailed on the former Nokia -Bahn (today Gluckauf -Bahn ) from Bochum Main Station to Gelsenkirchen Hbf

515 in ocean blue / beige paint in Gelsenkirchen Zoo

515 in mint green / white paint in Bochum

Whereabouts

Two railcars were sold to the Regentalbahn ( private railway ), which surrounded the vehicles on diesel-electric drive and designated as class VT 515 -U.

Only a few vehicles could be obtained by heritage railways because of maintenance by eliminating the maintenance facilities of the batteries is extremely difficult in Limburg and the vehicles are dependent on charging stations. The maintenance and possible uses of the rail buses, however, are much easier. The 515 556 is operational, but it must be used due to lack of main examination only on the BW (museum ) site in Bochum- Dahlhausen.

Preserved are:

  • 515556-9 and 815672-1 ( Railway Museum Bochum- Dahlhausen )
  • 515011-5 (Bavarian Railway Museum in Nördlingen ): Reprocessed, but not operational, since there is no battery present.
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