I was searching for the current location of the DB BR 427 Stadler FLIRT EMUs when an image of what seems to be a 1 car version of a BR 426 showed up, with the number 426 003 on a website (http://www.lars-p.de/427003.htm) so after searching it another photo appeared on a forum, this time more blurry and what looks to be on a branch line. The images look quite convincing but the '427 003' hasn't been mentioned anywhere else apart from that forum and website so I'm leaning towards it being fake and just created by a really skilled photoshop creator (considering the fact that both photos are taken by the same person). Unless it's an incredibly obscure prototype and the person who took the photos worked with Alstom/Bombardier in the testing of this electric railcar and got permission to take photos of the train. So if you have any evidence of this obscure electric railcar existing or if it's fake please post it here.
Wow that is hilarious! I love 1-car EMUs, they always look so silly! Especially when they have longer trains that look the same! I found this while searching in the UK: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2043260390 but nothing else... mysterious!
Seems to be some really good piece of Photoshop art and some kind of April fools joke on DSO back in the days However there is an existing bigger sibling: https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/deut...lig/69996/427-003-auch-als-flirt-genannt.html
It looks silly and funny but it doesn’t beat the weirdness of that DMU X73500/73900 VT641 which has many nicknames such as sausage, whale or suppository:
To be honest I can’t think of many one car electric units aside from trams. I guess if a railway is busy enough to be electrified then it’s going to be too busy for a single car unit. The RhB has them in Switzerland but they are more of a locomotive with a passenger area as they rarely run without coaches or wagons tagged on the back.
A french branch line with one of these would be lovely in TSW. Battered old overgrown track, beautiful scenery and tiny stations.
As good as the pic looks, it has to be a hoax. The 427 is a Stadler FLIRT, which that is not. The 426 is a 2-car 425 (and neither of them has a two-cab power car).
But somehow - although not used by DB - there are some rare cases of double numbering, although that new UIC format provides clarity when looking at the full numbers. What comes to my mind is the Vossloh G6 which is listed as 650, although the DB BR 650 is actually the Stadler Regioshuttle RS1 (and DB still don't own any G6). At least it was confusing enough to try to do as much research as possible
Another example is the BR 654 being shared between the Siemens RegioSprinter and the Alstom Coradia LINT Hydrogen
