European Railroad Discussion > DB Class 103 1980

In the late 1970s and 1980s, the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) Class 103 electric locomotives were the premier locomotives for the new "Intercity" class of trains that connected all of the major urban destinations in West Germany.   These locos had a top speed of about 125mph, but as this era pre-dated the construction of the Neubaustrecke, they were often limited to 100mph along the heritage lines.   Here are a few samples:

1)  Intercity train behind a Class 103 entering Koblenz station on 6/26/1980.
2)  Northbound Intercity train behind a Class 103 passing through St Goar on 6/27/80, along the mainline along the Rhine River between Koblenz and Mainz.   Both banks of the Rhine here had busy mainlines, and in the background you can see a passenger train on the line along the east bank, though that line was mainly freight.    The west bank line was mostly passenger.  (Edited based on comments.)
3)  Another northbound at St Goar 6/27/80.   Like the semaphores!
 



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/21 22:07 by dwatry.

---

---

---

Thank you for the great images from Germany.
I always enjoy photos from the country my ancestors immigrated from.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Three beauties. The Class 103's were favorites of mine (although I never got to see one in the flesh), and it's really neat to see them in active service in these images. Vielen Dank!

MC

Very nice views--are any of these electrics still in service? Or, preserved? Thanks for posting.

Excellent post !
Those 103's were indeed premier power back then and are truly iconic now.
Some familiar locales, but alas I missed the days of the 103's.

kurtarmbruster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very nice views--are any of these electrics still
> in service? Or, preserved? Thanks for posting.

There are several that have been preserved, a handful of which are operable. The last use in regular service was in 2016 on selected InterCity services. The train operating company RailAdventure, which specializes in equipment transfers/ferry moves, had 103 222-6 done up in their corporate two-tone gray and chartreuse livery a couple of years ago and uses it regularly, although not in regular passenger service.

I'm not 100% up to date, but at last count there were three or so operable units plus the prototype E 03 001.  

dwatry Wrote:
> 2)  Northbound Intercity train behind a Class 103
> passing through St Goar on 6/27/80........ and in the background you can see a
> freight train on the line along the east bank......
>  

If you have the time and capability, could you enlarge this photo for yourself, and perhaps answer two questions I have;  I've enlarged it as much as I can on my not-large old monitor:

A.  I am wondering if the IC is actually the northbound TEE Rheingold.  It appears to me that all but one of the cars are in red/cream, suggesting it's an all 1st class train;  the exception looks like a blue/red ARm, which is interesting [ Wouldn't the Rheingold in that era normally have carried a WR and an ARD;  it looks like the ARm in the photo is behind a WR.]

B.  At first glance it looks like the train on the other bank is a passenger, though it could just be the coloration of the blocks of freight cars suggesting that.  The freight side was often used for long distance trains for 'overhead' passengers -- say, Belgium/Holland - Austria.  Is it ?

With best regards,

SZ

dwatry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the late 1970s and 1980s, the Deutsche
> Bundesbahn (DB) Class 103 electric locomotives
> were the premier locomotives for the new
> "Intercity" class of trains that connected all of
> the major urban destinations in West Germany.  
> These locos had a top speed of about 125mph, but
> as this era pre-dated the construction of the
> Neubaustrecke, they were often limited to 100mph
> along the heritage lines.   Here are a few
> samples:
>
> 1)  Intercity train behind a Class 103 entering
> Koblenz station on 6/26/1980.
> 2)  Northbound Intercity train behind a Class 103
> passing through St Goar on 6/27/80, along the
> mainline along the Rhine River between Koblenz and
> Mainz.   Both banks of the Rhine here had busy
> mainlines, and in the background you can see a
> freight train on the line along the east bank,
> which was mainly freight.    The west bank line
> was mostly passenger.
> 3)  Another northbound at St Goar 6/27/80.  
> Like the semaphores!
>  

Wonderful photos, the 103s were amazing locos for their time - the sheer raw power!

They even had a 'boost' mode of sorts, whereby a switch could be enabled which uprated the main transformer from 501V to 612V and providing a power output of 12,000kW (16,092hp) at up to 140km/h (87mph).

Sadly this was disabled on the fleet when they were pressed into frontline service again, during the ICE fleet grounding, to reduce instances of overheating.

Posted from Android

SZ - In answer to your questions:

1)  I don't know enough about the Rheingold to know if this would be that train or not.  I don't have any other shots of this train so can't ID any other cars. 

2)  You are right I think - the cars on the train on then other bank look like passenger car length, so I think you are correct.  I'll edit appropriately.

thanks!

Duncan