QUOTE (john woodall @ 8 Jul 2008, 21:34)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Yes there was a railway regulation that there had to be a non revenue wagon between the locomotive and the first passenger car. This could be a baggage car, a mail car, a combination baggage/mail car or a box car, note that there was a specific box car for this (3 axel type Stettin)
Sometimes also an elderly empty coach with doors closed.
QUOTE (john woodall @ 8 Jul 2008, 21:34)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>To understand train composition it is necessary to understand where trains came and went from. The train from Berlin to Vienna would have looked very different in Vienna from when it left Berlin. Coaches would have been added and subtracted along the way. An example would have been some coach's going from Berlin to Stuttgart, which would have left the train in Munich.
In addition to John: All trains had a core stock which has not been altered except at the end of the line. A few long distance expresses were composed of e.g. two smaller core trains having started from different stations, being merged at a station, and continue as one train (so called "Flügelzüge"). In addition to the core train, through coaches were added and separated at nearly every larger station.
QUOTE (john woodall @ 8 Jul 2008, 21:34)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Train length varied but as a general rule the majority of coach's would be 3rd class. Unless it was a L Zug (luxury train) it is doubtful if there would have been any first class coach's in it. It is more like that a 1st\2nd\3rd (ABC 4u) type or a 2nd\3rd (BC 4u) would be in there.
The 1st classe coaches were not only used in luxury trains (such as the "Orient Express" and other CIWL and MITROPA expresses). These luxury trains consisted of first class coaches
only. FD trains (FD-Zug, long distance express, often with link abroad) like the "Rheingold" consisted of 1st and 2nd class coaches, normal inland expresses (D-Zug)consisted of 1st, 2nd and 3rd class coaches. Apart from the three express train classes (luxury, FD and D), first class coaches were
not in usage.
A typical
D-Zug (express train) would have consisted of
1 brake (Packwagen)
1 1st/2nd class composite
2-3 third class coaches
1 restaurant (run by MITROPA).
These core coaches all consisted of the same type of coaches. Through coaches of any other type
A typical
Personenzug (local train) would have consisted of
1 brake/3rd composite or mail/brake composite or just a brake
1 2nd/3rd composite
3 third class coaches
on local passenger trains, all material available was used in a potpourri ... with regional spice (e.g. in Bavaria former bavarian stock of different types mixed with standard and prussian stock)