Commuter Car.

Prototype information

The unpainted exterior skin of stainless steel with the peacock"s eye pattern under the windows gave the German Federal Railroad commuter cars, which replaced older rolling stock starting in 1960, the name "Silberlinge" ("Silver Coins").In the prototype a large number of 2nd class cars were equipped with baggage and engineer's compartments at one end, which were later expanded to a complete engineer's cab with destination signs. Thanks to the engineer's cab, these cars can be used in push/pull service with locomotives equipped for this type of operation. This saves the time required to turn locomotives at the end stations. On main lines and branch lines, trains of Silberlinge often run with class 111, 140, 141, 212 or 216 locomotives. The modern, three-phase class 120 locomotive also occasionally pulls a push/pull train. Recently, Silberlinge have been replaced on lightly traveled routes increasingly with the new class 628 powered rail cars. In urban areas, however, they are still often seen, even in S-Bahn traffic in the Rhine-Main area or in the greater Hamburg area, for example.