Hobbytrain - H2630 - Railcar, Diesel, SVT 137 155 - Deutsche Reichsbahn

Model Information: Introduced in 2001 in DC version (with DCC socket) and re-run in 2016 in a DCC/Sound version.
All wheels provide power pick-up. The two axles of the front truck of the motor car are geared, with two traction tires. The motor is equipped with a flywheel.
White / Red reversible lights are installed on both cab cars.
The model is delivered already assembled in a long cardboard box.
The Scharfenberg couplers are dummy and non-functional.
This model requires a minimum of 250 mm radius curves and will not run properly on R1 and R2 radius.

A full review (in German) is available on 1zu160 website.

DCC Information: DCC ready with a NEM651 / NMRA 6-pin socket.

Prototype History: Diesel railcar SVT 137 155, also called Kruckenberg-Schnelltriebwagen or Fliegender Silberling, was a railcar of the German railways, which was built in 1938 from a design by Franz Kruckenberg, for experimental purposes. As a prototype, it distinguished itself by his advanced concept and design. The special features were lightweight construction, air suspension and pioneering power transmission with flow gearboxes, which used hydraulic transmission.

In the 1930's the Kruckenberg "Flugbahngesellschaft" built many new and innovative trains. They produced the world famous Rail Zeppelin which beat the world speed record in 1931, reaching a top speed of 230.2 km/h. A few years later they delivered this 3-unit SVT 137 155. The construction of this revolutionary train was years ahead of it's time, in 1939 it reached a world speed record of 215 km/h, this was a record for diesel railcars. It was never put in revenue service. The unique set is now in storage at the Dresden rail museum.

The DRG Class SVT 137 was a class of streamlined high-speed diesel train sets of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft and later of the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Deutsche Reichsbahn. SVT stands for Schnell Verbrennungstriebwagen which means High Speed Diesel Railcar. Despite being regrouped under the same class, the various DMUs were actually very different one from each other.

More on Wikipedia about the whole class SVT 137 and (in German) about Kruckenberg SVT 137 155.

Road Name History: The Deutsche Reichsbahn, also known as the German Reich Railway or the German Imperial Railway, 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.

The company was founded in 1920 as the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen when the Weimar Republic, formally known as Deutsches Reich (German Reich, hence the usage of the Reich in the name of the railway), took national control of the German railways, which had previously been run by the German states. In 1924 it was reorganised under the aegis of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG), a nominally private railway company, which was 100% owned by the German state. In 1937 the railway was reorganised again as a state authority and given the name Deutsche Reichsbahn (DRB). After the Anschluss in 1938 the DR also took over the Bundesbahn Osterreich (BBO, Federal Railway of Austria).

The East and West German states were founded in 1949. East Germany took over the control of the DR on its territory and continued to use the traditional name Deutsche Reichsbahn, while the railway in West Germany became the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB, German Federal Railway). The Austrian Osterreichische Bundesbahnen (OBB, Austrian Federal Railways) was founded in 1945, and was given its present name in 1947.

In January 1994, following the German union, the East German Deutsche Reichsbahn merged with the West German Deutsche Bundesbahn to form Germany's new national carrier, Deutsche Bahn AG, technically no longer a government agency but still a 100% state-owned joint stock company.

Brand/Importer Information: Hobbytrain was an Austrian firm, that was acquired by Wolfgang Lemke GmbH in 2002. It produces HO and N scale models.