The Baureihe ET 91 was a series of
electric multiple units built for the
Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft of
Germany. The units colloquially known as Gläserner Zug (''Glass Train'') were equipped with large panorama windows, providing an excellent outside view to the passengers. The vehicles were used for recreational trips only, especially in southern Germany and
Austria.
History
Two units with the
wheel arrangement Bo'2' were built in 1935 by
Waggonfabrik Fuchs
Waggonfabrik Fuchs ('Fuchs Coach Factory') was a German coach and wagon builders based in Heidelberg in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. They built railway wagons and tramways from 1862 to 1957.
History
The firm was fou ...
in
Heidelberg and
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...
. They were numbered elT 1998 (cream with red underside) and 1999 (dark green with yellow (lower) and grey (upper) window wrap).
ET 91 02 was destroyed on March 9, 1943, in a bomb attack on the
Munich shunting yard. ET 91 01 survived
World War II without major damage and was taken over by the
Deutsche Bundesbahn From 1968 on, it was listed as Baureihe 491 in the
DB numbering scheme, being assigned the number 491 001-4.
The train had been refurbished 5 times during its lifetime (1949, 1953, 1961, 1972, 1985), and suffered a number of changes to its livery. Between 1949 and 1953 it wore the Rheingold livery, that was grey underside, purple bodywork and cream wrap. Between 1953 and 1971 it had a black underside (standard underside paint still used today), maroon bodywork and custard window wrap. Between 1972 and 1985 this livery is changed to light blue bodywork and silver wrap. The last livery was applied from 1985 to 1995 (technically speaking it is still used today) and featured a marine dark bodywork and white window wrap.
On December 12, 1995, the remaining unit
suffered extensive damage in a frontal crash at
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...
with
1044 235 of the Austrian Federal Railways and was subsequently taken out of service. The unit has been stationed at the
Bahnpark Augsburg
The Augsburg Railway Park (''Bahnpark Augsburg'') is a railway museum in Augsburg on part of the former Augsburg locomotive shed owned by the Deutsche Bahn. Following reconstruction work, the park officially reopened on 13 April 2009. In the futu ...
in
Augsburg since May 2005.
The unit is currently being renovated, however, due to economical reasons it will not be put into a usable state again, the power
bogie
A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
having been destroyed in the 1995 accident.
Literature
* Horst Troche: ''60 Jahre im Betriebseinsatz: Der "Gläserne Zug"''. In: ''Eisenbahn-Kurier''. No. 281/30/1996. EK-Verlag GmbH, , pp. 24–29.
* Horst Troche: ''Die elektrischen Aussichtstriebwagen der Deutschen Bundesbahn''
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Electric multiple units of Germany
ET 91
15 kV AC multiple units
Train-related introductions in 1935