Proper care and use of your Touropa coach
I've aquired several tourist company coaches over the past couple of years and I'm trying to figure out how to properly use them. Two are Touropa coaches and one is a Hummel Reise coach. I've seen many pictures of Touropa trains consisting of several Touropa coaches and a dining car, but nothing with Hummel Reise. Were the coaches always run in dedicated trains, or could they also be added to scheduled trains as well? Jurgen

I must admit that I thought there would have been some response to this posting by now. I'd be interested in Touropa/Hummel/Scharnow formations as well.

A few facts about former tourist companies in Germany: - Dr. Tigges Fahrten founded in 1928 - Touropa founded in 1951 - Scharnow-Reisen founded in 1953 - Hummel-Reisen also founded in 1953 In the beginning the coaches (sleeping and normal coaches) of each company always run in their own trains. So no mix but mostly in combination with a DB dining car. In the middle 60's travelling by rail with one of these tourist companies was almost be over and done. The competition with car, bus and first flights was very high, so the all on one's own operating companies were forced to work together. So no pure Touropa or Scharnow trains any more, but one from more companies used same tourist train. In other words: different coaches in one train; still with a DB dining car. From this cooperation the well-know TUI (Touristik Union International) was founded in 1968. Only brand name Touropa was used till 1989. From the 80's the TUI also used their own dining cars. Used engines: DB E17 DB E10.1 and E10.3 DB E18 DB E40 DB V200 also DB V60 with one or two coaches to bring the rest of a heavy train towards it's destination. ÖBB 1189 :idea: Cheers! Johan.

Well, this is interesting. If I understand this correctly, any tourist coaches operating in the 1970's would most likely be running in mixed consists of Touropa, Sharnow and Hummel coaches, plus a dining car. I assume the Alpensee Express was a joint operation of the three companies as well then, operated by TUI. I suspect that regular DB couchettes could also be leased for these trains then. The one Touropa coach I have is a plain green Bcüm, with the only indication of Touropa being a sign placed in the windows at each end. I was thinking about getting some more blue, skirted DB couchettes or the green unskirted coaches to add to the train as well, if that's appropriate. I will have to find a Sharnow coach, too, to round things out. Thank you, Johan, for the very enlightening post. Jurgen

Johan, I'd like to express my thanks as well.

Sorry to bring this post up from 2005, but... This was very informative. My question is: How did Mitropa/DSG fit into Touropa? Did they provide anything, or were they competitors in essence? The years seem to overlap for operations, so please, I do ask your patience. I got puzzled all over again. Thanks in advance. :? Jim

It seems to me that DSG was the subsidiary which was contracted by DB to operate its dining and sleeping coaches on high-value express trains. DB had a fleet of its own diners and couchettes for other services. In the early seventies the DSG sleeper fleet became part of Trans Euro Nacht (TEN) which was more of an international operation. Touropa and the other companies mentioned earlier were more of a tour company which leased or perhaps owned its own fleet of couchettes for its tour services. The diner on these trains was supplied by DB directly, I think; I don't recall seeing any DSG diners on these trains in any photos. In this case, DB is being contracted by Touropa for its transportation service. It was a significant enough business for DB that they designed a few diners specifically for use on these trains in the 1960's. A model of these had been announced by AlphaTrains (which may yet be produced by RailTop), along with another tourist couchette type which hasn't been produced before. Jurgen

Jurgen, Awesome - Thanks. No wonder that I was confused! Even if I am not strictly 'prototype', I would like to be as realistic as I can. Peace, Jim :)

Folks, Thought you may be interested in this early 1960s Photo. V200 and train of 6 Touropa coaches,with a DSG WR in the middle of the composite. David

Wow! "There's a prototype for everything" :!: I have heard that somewhere. Thanks David - great picture :D Jim

I've been looking into the question of DSG on tourist trains, and I have to recant what I said. I was looking mostly at 70's era photos when I said DSG diners weren't used on the Touropa trains. In Era III, almost all diners were operated by DSG, but on some (the green ones) the only indication was the red and gold sign hung on the side which read "DSG Speisewagen" or something like that. The sign was removable, but they almost never ran without the sign. The red full diners were painted with DSG lettering. This changed in the late sixties, when some diners started getting delivered in red with DB lettering. These are the diners I was seeing in my photos. As it happens, the diner in my Roco 44099 tourist train set is a prewar diner in green, but it still says DSG on the sign, and this car is in Era IV lettering. There's an excellent German language site on DSG here: http://www.railforum.de/schlafwagen/index.htm. This page illustrates most of the DSG diners produced as HO models to date: http://www.railforum.de/modellbahn/speisewagen/p_wr_epoche.htm. Jurgen

The other common lettering on Halbspeisewagen signs, both permanent and removable, was "DSG Speiseraum". I think that Touropa was a wholly- or majority-owned subsidiary of the Bundesbahn. It had no connection with Mitropa, which by then operated in the Russian Zone of Germany only. David

Greetings, And, if this was not mixed up enough, I saw on drehscheibe the other day (of course it was a link from a link from ..... :roll: and now I can not retrace my steps) but it mentioned that in the late 1970s and early 1980s that Hapag-Lloyd was a partner in the venture and had several cars lettered "Hapag-Lloyd-Tours". "Curiouser and curiouser"! I do not think I have seen Hapag-Lloyd-Tour cars in any catalogs recently :lol: It sure would make for a colorful collection (a rolling rainbow?)! Peace, Jim

Roco did a limited edition coach for the German market with the Hapag Lloyd graphics; it is catalogue number 44926 and is a 26.4m beige/turquoise liveried coach... I thinkm it's a Bcm though I can't be sure.

Jim, Märklin made one in the late 80's early 90's. One on E Bay at the moment. http://cgi.ebay.de/MARKLIN-4177-Liegewagen-HAPAG-Lloyd-OVP-2-H_W0QQitemZ260174608919QQihZ016QQcategoryZ45980QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Cheers John My Dad has one!