(sorry for the bad picture quality, my phone isnt the youngest anymore) (trys a Geoff Marshall Voice) Good Evening everyone and Welcome to Dortmund Hbf, where ive come today (17.12.22) to do the december saturdays only extra service on the RE1, operated by TRIs n Wagen. This isnt it of course, its the train that brought me here, but it has a funny story itself. Until a month or two ago, the S5 was operated by unmodernised 422s, which replaced more modern 1440s, as they were needed on the S8 line. The S5 is a very short line, having only 5 stops between Witten and Dortmund and every hour 3 more to Hagen. But in the contract with DB Regio, it was stated specifically that the trains operating the S5 must have toilets, which the 1440s had, but the 422s dont. So DB needed to find other suitable trains for this line and came up with these Stadler Flirts. Most of the ones used here were originally intended for the S28, should its route ever be electrified, and are in a Black, white and red Livery, however i got a VRR Redesign one. But that isnt the reason why weˋre here, we want to catch an additional RE1 service to Cologne. Its kind of a tradition that every december weekends, or this year saturdays, there are some extra trains between major cities in NRW, to get people visiting christmas markets around. Todays Route will take us 119 Km from Dortmund to Cologne and 84 km back to Essen along the backbone of NRW and its busiest mainline. Travel time will be around 1:30h per run. (the other red Lines south of Dortmund are my other train trips i made today/in order to get there) And here is our train, arriving on time for its 17:10 departure towards Köln. The train consists of 4 n Wagen from TRI (Train Rental International), two Wittenberger Cab Cars on either ends and a BR 111 Locomotive, which we will take a little closer look at in Cologne. TRI is well known in Germany for operating replacement, additional or charter Services with heritage Stock, mostly n wagen and a mix of 111,110s or other leased locomotives, like 182s. As i got straight on the train and looked like i know what i am doing, I was asked by multiple peolpe if this is a RE1, or even a normal, regular train. If youre used to Desiros and modern EMUs, such a train will confuse you, i saw people standing infront of the doors, waiting for them to open ^^ Until the trains departure time i went for a walk trough the train, and was almost a bit disappointed, as most of the coaches seemed to be in the more modern DBM Design and blue square moquette, which you may know from the dostos. But the cab car then greeted me with a pure green OFV Design I got a seat on a slidy window and waited for the train to depart towards Cologne, calling at Bochum, Essen, Mülheim (Ruhr), Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Leverkusen and Cologne Messe Deutz. Max Speed will be 140kmh. The seat tour was completed very quickly, no plug or USB Sockets, only most seats have armrests, but Legroom and seat comfort is outstanding compared to modern units, and if these things have heating on, theyˋll make it cozy in seconds even with the -3 degrees (in real freedom units) we had today.
Being able to open the window is really great to make photos, here a shot of Bochum Hbf. But as we left Bochum, something very peculiar happened. Instead of accelerating to Line speed, we stayed at around 60kph, and then suddenly crossed a lot of points, which you dont normally do if you leave Bochum for Essen. Based on my route knowledge, this could only mean one thing, we get diverted on the S Bahn line between Bochum and Essen. And the next stop (which we stopped at to an unknown reason), told me i was right, here the rare view out of a n Wagen on Wattenscheid Höntrop Station, normally S1 only territory. We stayed on the SBahn Tracks all the way to Duisburg (If this doesnt call for a scenario.... ) and at 18:56, we arrived at Cologne with a delay of 10 Minutes. No worry though, we arent supposed to leave until 19:13, so plenty of time to get a picture of the Loco. Turns out todays Locomotive is 111 111-1 (Schnapszahl, as we say in Germany) from DB Gebrauchtzug in a former S Bahn Livery, coupled to the second Cab car. As i went back into the train, i got a shot of one of the most iconic features of the n wagen, their doors. Unfortunatly, I didnt get a good shot when we were on the Hohenzollernbrücke into or out of Köln Hbf, as my phone Camera really doesnt like night and a lot of light. The journey back towards Essen was very uneventful, we were held at Leverkusen to be overtaken by a ICE (say I.C.E.!) and a Thalys from Paris. We reached Essen on time at 20:38, the train would do another round back to Cologne after 10 Minutes, but I got off and took an modern plastic RRX Desiro home. Overall i enjoyed this trip very much, and especially since we now have n Wagen in TSW, i was very happy to ride in one with the same design as in game. For me, seeing things out of TSW in the real world is something special, i had the same experience after my Interrail Trip this Summer, were i picked up WCL again as I was on the line and a 150 in the real world and wanted to be able to relive these moments in game. This sums up my experience today, i really enjoyed the trip, in fact so much that i am writing such a long post about it, and i can only recommend getting out for a day on the rails, especially if there is such a special train around.
Some more Pictures: An ICE2, also to Cologne, leaving Dortmund into the sunset. On the right awaits a RRX Desio HC on a RE4 service its departure time (yes, the one from RRO) The front of a Wittenberger Cab Car, the red signal light seemd to be not working, as they used Signs instead. The n Wagen on an empty platform in Cologne
