BlueBrixx
BlueBrixx Locomotive BR103 DB Rheingold (8w) Set 104283
BlueBrixx's Locomotive BR 103 DB Rheingold is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from 1,129 blocks, measuring 40.8 Γ 7.5 Γ 11.5 cm assembled, in the Rheingold livery. Designed by Adrian, released 2022. Printed instructions included.
They ran it far harder than it was built for
The BR 103 was rated at 7,440 kW continuous β already the most powerful single-frame locomotive in Europe when it appeared in 1970.
The Bundesbahn then used it well beyond that. As Intercity trains got longer and timetables tighter, drivers routinely worked the 103 at short-term outputs far above the continuous rating, sometimes for extended periods. The locomotives delivered it, and the traction motors paid for it: insulation failures, cracked armatures and worn frames appeared far earlier than anyone had planned for.
By the 1990s a class designed for decades of service was being withdrawn with problems that came from how it had been driven rather than how it had been built. Deutsche Bahn eventually issued instructions restricting the overload, which arrived too late for most of the fleet.
It remains the fastest and most powerful German locomotive of its era, and one of the few that people who do not care about trains can recognise on sight.
The Rheingold
The livery on this model belongs to the Rheingold, the Bundesbahn's prestige express β a train with a dome car, a bar, and a route down the Rhine valley chosen for the view rather than for speed.
It ran from 1928, was reintroduced in 1962, and was the train the German railway used to show what it could do. A BR 103 in beige and blue at the head of it is one of the defining images of West German railways.
In the BlueBrixx range
Sets 101001 (V200), 102531 (BR 92), 102921 (Big Boy) and 104004 (US Shunting Locomotive) are the other locomotives, and 101043, 102535 and 102788 the station buildings.
Specifications
Pieces: 1,129 Β· Designer: Adrian Β· Series: BlueBrixx-Specials Β· Printed instructions
Model dimensions: 40.8 Γ 7.5 Γ 11.5 cm (16.1 Γ 3.0 Γ 4.5 in)
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