The Class 724 operated by the German national railway,

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained ...

, was a railway department vehicle used for testing Indusi installations. Only three examples of this class existed.

724 001

After its retirement on 21 June 1963, having clocked up 1,236,000 kilometres, the

Uerdingen railbus The Uerdingen railbus (German: ''Uerdinger Schienenbus'') is the common term for the multiple units which were developed by the German firm of Waggonfabrik Uerdingen for the Deutsche Bundesbahn and private railways after the Second World War. Th ...

VT 95 906, one of the original prototypes of its class, was converted in the repair shop (''

Ausbesserungswerk An Ausbesserungswerk (abbreviation AW or Aw) is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair (and formerly also the construction) of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a ...

'' or ''Aw'') at

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

into a test vehicle for ''Indusi'' railway installations. Designated as 6205 Wt it began its new duties on 25 February 1964 at ''

Bahnbetriebswerk A ''Bahnbetriebswerk'' is the equivalent of a locomotive depot (or motive power depot) on the German and Austrian railways. It is an installation that carries out the maintenance, minor repairs, refuelling and cleaning of locomotives and other ...

'' (''Bw'')

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

and replaced the measurement

draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl Dr ...

previously used for this task. On 1 January 1968 it was given the number 724 001–3. The installation of testing magnets on both sides of the vehicle in 1971 considerably improved its utility, making it possible to test station entry and exit signals in one pass. Number 724 001 was retired on 18 January 1986 at ''Bw''

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. Since then the vehicle was left by itself for many years and eventually stood in a very dilapidated state in front of

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

locomotive shed. In 2007 the railbus was bought up by the ''Vulkaneifelbahn'' and taken away to

Gerolstein Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a '' Luftkurort'' (spa town). History As early as the Ston ...

, where the intention is to restore it in the medium-term. No. 724 001 is the last existing Uerdingen railbus prototype, the former Class VT 95. * Vehicle number: 724 001-3 ex 6205 Wt; VT 95 906 * Class: 724 * Manufacturer: Uerdingen 1950 / 56752 * Conversion: 1968 AW Kassel * Length over buffers: 10,650 mm * Empty weight: 15 t * Top speed: 90 km/h * Power: 110 kW

724 002 and 724 003

Because more and more lines were equipped with Indusi, one vehicle no longer proved sufficient. So in 1972 the retired railbuses, VT 795 144 and 471, were also converted to test vehicles, again at Aw Kassel, and numbered as 724 002-1 and 724 003–9.

External links

Photo of 724 001

724 __NOTOC__ Year 724 ( DCCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 724 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

DB Class 724

724 001

724 002 and 724 003

See also

External links