Ost-West-Express - Summer 1995 - Bruxelles-Midi -> Moscow–Belorussky

 

Here's my first video of a complete Ost-West-Express train formation! This is the original picture:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/157299819@N02/52329486814/in/photostream/

It nicely matches exactly what is provided on vagonweb.cz. I eventually managed to have every single passenger car required for this formation.

Description	Image	Reference	In stock
DB BR 112		Roco 63555	✔
RŽD WLABmee		LS Models 48010, 48011, 48012	✔
RŽD WLABmee		LS Models 48010, 48011, 48012	✔
RŽD WLABmee		LS Models 48010, 48011, 48012	✔
RŽD WLABmee		LS Models 48010, 48011, 48012	✔
RŽD WLABmee		LS Models 48010, 48011, 48012	✔
RŽD WLABm		ACME 55136	✔
UZ WLABmee		LS Models 48023, 48211	✔
PKP WLABd		Roco 6200062	✔
PKP Bcdmnu		ACME 55055	✔
PKP Bdmnu		ACME 55135	✔
PKP Bdmnu		ACME 55135	✔
PKP Bdmnu		ACME 55135	✔
PKP Bdmnu		ACME 55135	✔
PKP Bcdmnu		ACME 55055	✔
PKP WLABd		Roco 6200062	✔

Here's the running formation:

Adding details to a Roco Corail passenger car

 After adding lighting, it's now time to add the details. There is not much to be done and it was quite easy and straight-forward.

 

New engines

Three new engines in the depot! Two PKP and one SNCF Infra

BB 79000

This is the new model from Jouef. It purchased the SNCF Infra version - Jouef HJ2439S - BB 679020.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexprevot/52318868842/

It came with an ESU decoder and I gave it address #7920:

PKP EP09

These are the new models from Piko. It purchased the yellow and the IC liveries:

• Piko 97522 - PKP EP09-045
• Piko 97525 - PKP EP09-046

https://www.flickr.com/photos/iks_berto/50222310903/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130444055@N06/31762519242/

 

Piko 97522 - PKP EP09-045

Piko 97525 - PKP EP09-046

I gave them addresses #945 and #946:

EuroNight / EuroCity / InterCity

 

While creating the train formation from Vagonweb or from other sources, there are many formations from EuroNight or EuroCity, or even "named" trains. 

 

EuroNight

 

 

EuroCity

InterCity

 

Here are the links for further reference:

• Train categories in Europe - beyond EN, EC, or IC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_categories_in_Europe
• List of EuroNight trains: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroNight
• List of EuroCity services: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_EuroCity_services and https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroCity
  
• InterCity - list of IC trains in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterCity
• List of named passenger trains of Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_named_passenger_trains_of_Europe
  

 

DB research: Bcm 243 / Bcom 246 & logo

 

A couple of notes as I'm doing research on various European formations ...

 

Bcm 243 / Bcom 246

How to distinguish those two passenger cars? The Bcm 243 is an older variation and doesn't have air conditioning, so the roof is completely flat. The Bcom 246 is newer and equipped with A/C, so there's a ventilation grille on the roof above the 2nd window - see below

Bcm 243 - ACME 90145

Bcom 246 - ACME 55296

 

Old DB / New DB AG logos

In 1994, DB changed - almost overnight - all the logos on its rolling stocks. The old DB logo refers to the West Germany national company, whereas the new one is after the merge of DB and DR, resulting on DB AG. Therefore, it is very very rare to see cars mixed with different logos - there should always be consistent!

Deutsche Bundesbahn - before 1994

Deutsche Bahn - after 1994

Closed for winter

 

http://www.nic.funet.fi/index/pics/railways/Czech/electric/index.html

 

Lighting for Roco Corail passenger cars

 I've been trying several ways to install lighting into passenger cars. So far, my favorite is the ESU strip, with its decoder and fancy options. There are two others I have to test: Roco and Model SF Production - especially for the Corail since the lights came from under the rack.

 

I know ESU and Roco won't really give that effect, so I'll have to see with Model SF. For now, let's take a look at Roco.

 

Roco 40420

First step is to open the car and separate the various components to access the bogies - it is well explained on the instructions:

The pack consists on the 2 power pick-ups, the main strip, double-side tape, and the interesting part: the LEDs can be positioned as needed and the electrical connection is done with tiny clamps or couplings. Pretty smart!

Now, we can run a test before closing everything back:

I wasn't quite clear if the strip would work even without a decoder, since there's a plug for it but none is provided with the kit. This is a big difference from the ESU one. For Roco, a tiny decoder can be installed for the fancy options. However, even without the decoder, the lighting works well in DC and DCC.