European Railroad Discussion > Thüringerwaldbahn

Today we rode an ICE from Nuremberg to Erfurt and a RE service from there to Gotha in order to see, photograph and ride the metre gauge Thüringerwaldbahn, or Thüringer Forest Railway, a 20km electric interurban from Gotha to the spa town of Bad Tabarz. It runs every 30 minutes and once away from Gotha's hospital, on the outskirts of the city, becomes a country interurban, running through the woods at speeds of up to 70 kph. Most of the rolling stock is secondhand, the oldest units being Duewag GT6s dating back almost 60 years (ex-Mannheim) and the most modern the Schindler Be 4/8s from Basel. In between are the Tatra KT4Ds, many of which came from Erfurt.

So here are three shots, a KT4D in the Gotha Hauptbahnhof terminus on a city service. The GT6 that we rode to Bad Tabarz, and the Be 4/8 that we rode back

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Looks narrow gauge. Is it?

Mention of Mannheim and interurbans, reminds me of the O E G (Oberrheinische Eisenbahn Gesellschaft - spelling?) which used some interesting equipment operating between Mannheim, Heidelberg and Weinheim in the early 1960's.  Wish I had photos to share.
jb

OnTime Wrote:
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> Looks narrow gauge. Is it?

As OP said in first sentence, metre gauge.

Such skinny vehicles!  

Map of Bad Tabarz
https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=50.87612353565238&lon=10.579662322998047&zoom=13

Ted in OR

While this line did have some true ex-Mannheim GT6 vehicles, I believe that 521 is a GT8N [ or NF ], one of 23 GT6's rebuilt/stretched with a low floor middle section by Mannheim in their workshops in 1991-92;  it worked there less than ten years before going east. It and its sisters retained their Mannheim 5xx numbers;  if there was a distinct lineage to a corresponding 4xx GT6 donor number, I don't know what it was.

Best, SZ

Steinzeit2 Wrote:
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> While this line did have some true ex-Mannheim GT6
> vehicles, I believe that 521 is a GT8N [ or NF ],
> one of 23 GT6's rebuilt/stretched with a low floor
> middle section by Mannheim in their workshops in
> 1991-92;  it worked there less than ten years
> before going east. It and its sisters retained
> their Mannheim 5xx numbers;  if there was a
> distinct lineage to a corresponding 4xx GT6 donor
> number, I don't know what it was.
>
> Best, SZ

You're right, it does have a low floor section.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/23 13:33 by 86235.

Wow! I totally missed this one when I was in search of Tatras in the former DDR five years ago. So is it a regular service, a heritage line or somewhere inbetween?

Jim

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> Wow! I totally missed this one when I was in
> search of Tatras in the former DDR five years
> ago. So is it a regular service, a heritage line
> or somewhere inbetween?
>
> Jim

Regular service, four routes.