{"id":91474,"date":"2020-01-15T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T17:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/?p=91474"},"modified":"2020-01-15T09:06:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T14:06:17","slug":"the-trans-europ-express-two-versions-of-the-iconic-train-in-lego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brickmodelrailroader.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/15\/the-trans-europ-express-two-versions-of-the-iconic-train-in-lego\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trans Europ Express, Two Versions of the Iconic Train in LEGO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Trans Europ Express, or TEE, is a magical name when it comes to railroading and pioneer in high speed, and international and luxury travel. Today we dive into the history around this concept and the train which made this concept a reality. We’ll look at not one but two LEGO versions of the TEE, in this collaboration article between Holger Matthes and myself. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

VT 11.5 \u2013 A star is born. <\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the\nmid-1950s, the European economy picked up speed again, and the western European\ncountries began to establish new relationships after the devastation of the\nSecond World War. In this context, eight European rail companies decided to\nintroduce a joint train offer: the Trans-Europ-Express, TEE for short. The\nmodern express train network was intended to connect the European metropolises\nwith one another and, in particular, offer the wealthy business travelers of\nthe economic miracle an alternative to car and air transport. For this new type\nof traffic system, the Deutsche Bundesbahn procured several multiple units with\ntype VT 11.5 railcars, which were put into operation in June 1957, later also\nlocomotive-covered trains were used. With this decision, DB made history. For\n15 years the German diesel multiple units were used as TEE and shaped the image\nof international express train traffic like no other train set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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601 001 in Friedrichshafen Stadt, 24.04.1983 . Foto credits go to ( Thomas Reincke ) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Symbol of a Europe without borders<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Close\ncooperation with its European neighbors was of great importance to the Deutsche\nBundesbahn right from the start. An example of this is the European freight\nwagon community “EUROP”, which was initially founded in 1951 with the\nFrench State Railways, creating an extensive, freely available European freight\nwagon pool. Three years later, the DB agreed with most of the European railway\ncompanies that in future only two wagon classes would be used, which would be\ncomfortably adjusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nresult of the growing (western) European cooperation was the establishment of\nthe European express train network TEE. Development began in 1954 with the\nfounding of the Trans-Europ-Express Commission based in The Hague. The founding\nmembers were the State Railways of Belgium (NMBS \/ SNCB), the Netherlands (NS),\nthe Federal Republic of Germany (DB), France (SNCF), Italy (FS), Luxembourg\n(CFL) and Switzerland (SBB); later the Spanish State Railways (RENFE) also\njoined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the\nrailway administrations were unable to agree on the introduction of a standard\nvehicle, they were limited to introducing the trains under the common name and\nlogo TEE and defining several binding criteria:<\/p>\n\n\n\n