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03/2024 by Klaus Kosack

New makeshift luggage cart MDyge986 from Minitrix

Factory photo MDyge986

In the 1950s, the DB was looking for new business areas. Due to the changed political framework, the country had grown into a north-south structure, where transport also had to be reorganized. In addition, there were changes in purchasing and sales habits that the railway wanted to respond to. This is how express freight transport was invented. Unfortunately, there were no suitable vehicles for this yet. The DB was faced with a two-fold dilemma: there was no money for new vehicles, but on the other hand, the DB had many vehicles from the war that there was no longer any real use for. They were the MCi-43 makeshift passenger cars. This is how the idea came about to build two of these vehicles together. The whole thing as part of a renovation program. After a few test cars, the starting signal was given for the series conversion.

Example

The new makeshift baggage wagons were 23.014 m long and had a dead weight of 31 t. The gooseneck bogies were installed from former Prussian express train cars.  Initially the cars all had an open transition, which later gave way to a closed transition with rubber bead transitions. There was another exit door built into the side of the transition. The cars were approved for 120 km/h.

The cars with the open transitions were initially called MPw4ie-50, later as MDi996. The cars were built from 1950 to 1955 in the railway's own AWs. A total of 236 cars were built. These wagons later underwent some modifications: the closed transition was subsequently installed, some wagons were given 4 windows on the loading doors, and some were given new bogies that allowed a speed of 140 km/h. From the 1960s onwards, the cars got new walls. Instead of the wooden walls that came from the MCi-43 makeshift passenger cars, panel walls were installed. These converted cars were called MPw4yg-57, later MDyg986. In addition to the first 50 cars built, another 122 cars were added, so that the DB had 172 cars. On December 31, 1977, there were 115 MDi996 cars left, while 157 of the MDyg986 model remained. For the sake of completeness, other variants of the car should be mentioned:

  • as a car transporter
  • as a wine cellar trolley
  • as an auxiliary train car
  • as a doctor's car.

Here is a photo of the model:

Prototype photo source EK-Spezial 82, p.36

The relocation of the collection and distribution points for general cargo traffic from the train stations to the freight stations has certainly scared away more customers. If the goods were on the truck, they could be driven straight to the recipient and the railway would lose out.

Vehicle sketch MPw4yg-57- Source: EK-Spezial 82, p. 38

With the formation of DB AG, the business area became increasingly unattractive - due to alleged losses - and the railway discontinued this business area in 1994/95. There was also an accident with the car: due to improper welding, a car lost a buffer that got caught in a switch. As a result, the cars derailed and rolled onto a neighboring track where an express train was running. This also derailed and there were deaths and injuries. As a result, all of the makeshift vans still in existence were taken out of circulation.

Model

As already mentioned above, the starting point for the makeshift baggage vans was the MCi-43 war passenger car. Here is a picture of the model from Minitrix.

Minitrix makeshift passenger car MBi-44

The Minitrix MDyge is not the first makeshift van to see the light of day. The predecessors were the Roco cars, which had been produced since 1981. Right from the start, Roco produced the car in two versions:

  • as MPw4i-50 with open transition and
  • as MDyge986 with closed transition.

The version as an auxiliary train car followed two years later. Three years later, the makeshift wagons were taken out of the program. In 2006 the car was remembered and released again in Era III as the MPw4i-50. Here are pictures of the predecessors:

MDyge986 by Roco (1981) 50 80 92-11 463-8
MPw4i-50 from Roco (1981) 113 822 Hmb
Auxiliary train car from Roco (1983) Stg 5506
MPw4i-50 by Roco (2006) 113 974 Han

As you can easily see, all the cars have wooden walls.  All loading doors (except auxiliary train cars) have two windows. They all have the gooseneck bogies, but - as was usual with Roco at the time - no close coupling kinematics.  So Roco hasn't changed anything about the shape of the makeshift vans. There is still a price tag on the youngest car: The car was available for €9.90 at the time. As a result, Fleischmann, as Roco's successor, missed out on bringing out an improved car.

Minitrix did that now. She brought out the makeshift van as a new design (#18432), but in a completely new look: The first model came out with panel walls, which the car was given in the early 1960s. Here is a picture of the new product:

MDyge986 by Minitrix (2024) 50 80 92-11 327-5

Even on the outside, the car shows clear differences to its predecessors from Roco: fewer windows and four panes in each of the revolving folding doors. There are also changes to the reinforcement struts in the last two fields at the end of the car. Here are more photos of the car:

MDyge Minitrix - below
MDyge Minitrix - front

In the two photos you can admire the designers' attention to detail. The lowest steps are colored silver to highlight the steps. The barrier chain in the porch of the crossing is particularly noteworthy. The author has never seen anything like this on model cars in N.

The model of the car was built by the Hansa company in 1957. The donor cars were the war passenger cars 302 249 and 303 883. It was put into service on October 22, 1957 as 113 972 MPw4yg-57. In 1966 he got the number from the picture above. He was decommissioned on October 30, 1993.

The car is delivered with interior lighting. When it was first used, the interior lighting was on in analogue mode, but the tail lamps remained dark. Studying the instruction manual, it came out that you have to remove the roof to access it.

Electronics inside

There is a drag switch hidden where the hole is (see arrow). The switch can be turned with a fine screwdriver. It is best to switch this on a track. Various circuits can be set: no taillight - both sides of the taillight - one side of the taillight. And the best thing was, the preset taillights also work analogue. These settings are also important during operation, depending on where the car is used in the train. For example, if the car is used behind the locomotive, red taillights are unnecessary.

Use on model railways

The makeshift baggage car can be used like a normal baggage car in all kinds of trains (except F, FD and IC). Also in local trains with appropriate loading volumes. The wagons were also often used in express freight transport or in mail trains, e.g. for parcels. There are many options.

Conclusion nbsp]                                 [nbsp ]                [ nbsp]                    

Here Minitrix has created a model of a not rare car that was seen more often a good 30 years ago. Minitrix's decision to add panel walls to the car was a good one, because that's how the makeshift vans usually drove around at the end of their service life. The author didn't think the operating instructions were that great, because the built-in decoder can only be read with another consumer. Some model railway enthusiasts will probably be surprised that the car does not show any taillights when it is first put into operation. Still a successful model, even though the car is in the upper price segment (around €60). On the other hand, there is also a lot on offer. By the way, a variant of the MDyge is announced as being in a BEM train set. It is scheduled to go on sale in March 2024. More will surely follow.

 

Klaus Kosack

 

Literature:

H. Hoyer, The genera MDie and MDyg as well as related types, in EK-Spezial 82, 3rd quarter 2006
H. Obermeyer, paperback German passenger car, Stuttgart 1978
Archive of German passenger trains and freight cars, sheet of makeshift baggage cars of the DB MDyg 986 and MDi 996


Produkte aus diesem Beitrag im Shop

Minitrix_18432: Freight car makeshift baggage car MDyge 986 DB Ep. IV
Minitrix_18714: Passenger car set BEM Ep.VI 4 pieces

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