The VT 11.5 was a diesel multiple unit of the early German Federal railways (DB).
The Trans-Europ-Express was a concept to develop Europe-wide rail traffic in the late 1950’s from an idea by the Dutch railway president, Mr. F. Q. den Hollander.
The TEE network was designed with the business traveller in mind, stopping only at major cities on route between city destinations. Originally jointly operated by the German, Dutch, French, Swiss and Italian railways, they were later joined by Belgium and Luxemburg.
The diesel powered, futuristic-design of the VT 11.5 was the flag carrier of the TEE traffic throughout Germany and European routes linking major cities with a punctual, enhanced comfort rail service. Diesel motive power had been selected due to the different electrical voltages used by the separate countries at that time.
In 1957, all the units were delivered to the still developing DB network:
A total of 19 of the powered driving cars were made by MAN, 23 compartment coaches and 8 open coaches came from the Linke-Hofmann-Busch factory, followed by 8 restaurant cars and 9 kitchen coaches from the Wegmann carriage works.
The basic four-car unit consisted of two powered driving cars, one compartment coach and one bar coach. The last VT 11.5 was withdrawn from service in 1995.
One of the power cars is preserved in the Transport Museum in Nürnberg.
The units were extended with additional intermediate coaches in the matching TEE livery of wine red and cream: Intermediate 3-coach set – model no: 741002
The former Roco model has now been completely re-worked to include improved current pick-up and LED lighting.
The railcar is fitted with a load controlled digital sound decoder for DCC operation according to the NMRA standard. The sounds of the original engine is digitally reproduced inside the model, by a miniature, hi-tech loundspeaker. Realistic sounds will be automatically activated At random, an inbuilt incidental generator releases typical sounds for the relevant vehicle.
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