N-Scale 06/2021: MAV / PKP / OSE special models by Arnold for DM-Toys
MAV / PKP / OSE special models by Arnold for DM-Toys
The long Bautzeners - 26,400 mm long dining and couchette cars from GDR production for export
After a series of different prototypes in the mid-1970s, the rail vehicle industry of the German Democratic Republic also began to manufacture passenger coaches according to the new UIC-Z2 standard. A large part of it was not produced for internal use, i.e. for the Deutsche Reichsbahn, but for export. VEB Waggonbau Bautzen was the manufacturer of most of the Z2 wagon types.
The beginning was marked by a series of 30 modern dining cars for the Hungarian State Railways MÁV. These were delivered in 1981 and were built according to the example of western dining cars, such as the DB WRmh 132 / WRmz 135. The MÁV WRm 88-81 had a spacious dining room with 42 seats in 2 + 1 positions, as well as an above-average kitchen. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Hungarian wagons were preferred in international express trains (e.g. the D 262/263 "Orient Express" to Paris or later the EuroCitys "Franz Liszt", "Bela Bartok" or "Lehar") and only migrated to the 2000s in subordinate services. The decommissioning of the cars began only a few years ago.
The German Mitropa and the Polish WARS have also ordered almost identical cars in Bautzen from 1984 onwards. In contrast to the first series for Hungary, the German and Polish dining cars were equipped with more modern drives (disc-braked BA GP-200s bogies instead of Görlitz Va). The car bodies are identical except for small details such as the shunting handrails. The interior was originally very similar to the Hungarian carriages, with a large dining room with 42 seats and a spacious kitchen.
The first red painted WRdmnu 88-80 of the PKP WARS cars were also in use abroad in the late 1980s and up to the 2000s, for example to Vienna, Prague or Berlin. From the mid-2000s, the cars were gradually modernized (as WRdmnu 88-70, in the second modernization phase as WRmnouz 88-70) and painted in the new PKP IC color scheme. Air-conditioned 88-70s were also installed in the luxury trains of the Russian RZD (Moscow-Paris-Express, Moscow-Nice Express, etc.) in the 2010s.
DM-Toys has now implemented the two relevant color variants of the Hungarian WRm 88-81 on the true-to-scale and pleasantly low-lying Arnold base, in the original state of the 1980s with a light roof and white lettering and as a MÁV-START car after 2007. The car in its original condition is the ideal complement to our "Orient Express" project with MÁV seat cars, as special models from Fleischmann, as well as SNCF and ÖBB sleeping cars from Arnold (see also the detailed article on the subject in N-Bahn Magazin 01 / 2021). The Polish car was also implemented in two important versions, as the red 88-80 of the 1990s and in the brightly colored PKP IC color scheme as the 88-70. Of course, the cars run on the correct type Görlitz Va bogies for the Hungarian and GP-200s for the Polish car.
In Bautzen not only dining cars were built. Based on the "long Halberstadt" type Bme compartment coaches, more than 100 couchette coaches with 10 compartments and a train attendant compartment were produced for the Deutsche Reichsbahn. These also ran on GP-200s bogies and had gold-coated windows. Almost identical wagons were also delivered to the Greek state railway OSE. The red painted Greek couchette coaches of the type Bcm were mainly used in the 1990s and 2000s for Western Europe. For example to Germany or on the “Optima Express” holiday train. In order to simplify an authentic overall train formation, we do not offer the red, Greek, “splash of color” individually, but even in an authentically painted and labeled set of three.
Dear customer,
All items you can see in our online shop are in stock and can be delivered immediately. We deliver via DHL & UPS without delays.
Yours sincerely
Daniel Mrugalski
DM-Toys