In the days when loco-hauled trains were the norm, many trains were assembled at stations, with coaches being added and removed during the course of a train’s journey and in many cases transferred to other trains. The train formation plan provided information about the scheduled formation, as well as the origins and destinations of the individual groups of vehicles and coach types.
EK-Special 160: Das “Geheimnis” der Zugbildung, translated as “The “secret” of train formation”, contains numerous examples of long distance and regional trains, formed of traditional loco-hauled coaches or wagons, from the 1950s to the 2010s. In many cases, as well as photos of the train, copies of the train formation plan, timetable extracts and models of the train showing each coach in the formation and the part of the train’s journey covered by that vehicle are also included. Most of the examples featured are from the 1990s or earlier, with fixed formation trainsets (and high speed trains such as ICEs) having increasingly become the norm in more recent times. Also includes the Basel to Copenhagen CityNightLine train during 2014, its last year of operation.
53 colour and 62 black & white photos. German text. 98 pages.