Baggage car

This article is about the railway car. For the North American mail and baggage car, see Railway post office.

Baggage car of a pre-war Deutsche Bundesbahn design

Prototype baggage car Dyl⁹⁶¹ of the Deutsche Bundesbahn

A baggage car (abbreviated Bg, also known as a luggage van or brake van) is a type of railway car used for the transport of luggage. It typically contains one or more luggage compartments with large loading doors (such as sliding doors, folding doors, or roller shutters) and usually includes a conductor’s compartment for train staff. Many baggage cars are built as corridor coaches with a side gangway next to the baggage area, so that they can be marshalled anywhere in the train without interrupting through passage.

Usage

The train conductor’s mobile office in a baggage car, illustration by Cili Ringgenberg, c. 1945

ÖBB baggage car Dmsz

SBB baggage car type EW II

SBB baggage car MC 76 (ex SNCF)

Belgian Dms baggage car with roller doors for loading, in Eurofima livery

Baggage cars 139 and 140 of the Royal Württemberg State Railways, 1879

Baggage handling

Traditionally, passengers could hand in their luggage at the baggage counter of a railway station, where it was loaded into the baggage car and collected at the destination station. This service has largely been discontinued, although it still exists in Switzerland. After the end of this service, many baggage cars were adapted for bicycle transportation. Sometimes luggage can also be loaded directly by passengers, especially bicycles.

There are also combination baggage cars, which include other passenger areas (e.g. seating). In particular, multiple units often have only part of a car set aside for baggage. Modern commuter rail vehicles usually include a multi-purpose area where bicycles, strollers, heavy loads, and wheelchair users can be accommodated. By contrast, a full baggage car is sometimes referred to as a dedicated baggage car.

Use in trains

Baggage cars were mainly used in passenger trains, though there were also dedicated overnight baggage trains and freight train guard’s vans that included baggage space.

Until the mid-20th century, baggage cars were generally marshalled immediately behind the locomotive for safety reasons. Today, they are usually found at the front or rear of the train, though some trains have them in the middle.

Withdrawal at Deutsche Bahn

The Deutsche Bahn phased out baggage cars in the early 1990s. In 1995, the last baggage counters were closed and baggage transport ceased.^[1]

Development in Germany

Länderbahn types

In Prussia and Bavaria, baggage cars were built to standardised designs (Normalien) for both passenger and freight trains. Early cars were two- or three-axle designs with guard’s compartments, loading doors, and raised lookout cupolas for train conductors.

(Details of Prussian and Bavarian baggage car designs can be included here in tables; see German article for full technical lists.)

Standard designs (1920s–1930s)

From 1923, the Deutsche Reichsbahn built standardised two-axle baggage cars to match the Donnerbüchse corridor coaches. They had riveted steel bodies, loading doors on each side, and versions with or without conductor’s cupolas. Later models (1928–1931) used welded construction.

Four-axle baggage cars for express and through trains were also introduced, some for prestigious trains such as the Rheingold Express. The last of these were withdrawn in the 1980s, though many were converted to departmental service.

Deutsche Bundesbahn

Emergency conversions

After 1945, the Deutsche Bundesbahn converted surplus war-era passenger coaches into makeshift baggage cars (Behelfspackwagen), designated MPw4ie-50 (later MDie⁹⁹⁶). They were built from two former coaches mounted on a new frame. These cars remained in service well into the 1990s, often rebuilt with steel sheet sides and rubber gangway connections. Many were later used as auxiliary train cars.

New designs

From the 1950s, the DB introduced half-baggage cars as part of its rebuild coach programme, followed by designs based on the n-coach and UIC-X coach. From 1960, new full baggage cars of type Pw4üm-60 were built with roll-up doors and flexible interiors. In 1962 the designation was changed from Pw to D, later with super-scripted subtypes. Common later models included Dms⁹⁰², Dms⁹⁰⁵, BDms²⁷², and BDms²⁷³.

Development in Austria

DF of the Graz-Köflacher Railway

BCDFah of the Pressburger Bahn

Narrow gauge service van of the Waldviertel narrow gauge railways

ÖBB Schlierenwagen BDp 82-35 half-baggage car with a large baggage compartment

In Austria, baggage cars traditionally included a guard’s compartment and—especially on local railway stock—were often combined with mail cars (for example, the kkStB type DF). With the Vienna Stadtbahn cars, half-baggage cars were introduced for the first time in Austria-Hungary, combining service and baggage compartments (plus a toilet). When trains were overcrowded, these cars also offered 12 auxiliary seats on folding chairs.^[2]

The Vienna–Pressburg local railway (LWP) followed this example with its passenger stock and thus avoided the need for separate guard’s vans. In its BCDFah type, the LWP for the first time combined second- and third-class compartments with a baggage/guard’s compartment and a postal section. The Niederösterreichische Landesbahnen (Lower Austrian Provincial Railways) also ordered some two-axle half-baggage cars for local lines, which included a third-class compartment.

Electric railcars for local lines, such as the kkStB 21.0 and kkStB 41/s.0 classes, were usually designed as half-baggage cars with a centrally located guard’s/baggage compartment. The Komarek steam railcars kkStB 1.0 and NÖLB 40–44 also followed this layout.

During the interwar period, the BBÖ mostly introduced independent guard’s/baggage vans; an exception were the CDa cars of the Krimml railway. After 1945, however, the ÖBB increasingly relied on the half-baggage design. As part of the Spantenwagen programme, several series were rebuilt in ÖBB workshops from older cars, both as standard-gauge two-axle versions (BDi) and as narrow-gauge four-axle versions for the Mariazell Railway (BD4). Pure baggage cars continued to be acquired and rebuilt as well. The BDi type was particularly common on branch lines, since regulations at the time required the train conductor to have a lockable compartment. This sometimes led to unusual formations consisting only of a single steam locomotive of class 93 or 52 and a BDi.

Among the Schlierenwagen, five different half-baggage designs with differently sized baggage compartments were built, while in the following series of domestic coaches (“long Schlieren”) only one such design was ordered.

As part of the Eurofima-derived coach programme, ÖBB had both 10 half-baggage cars (BDmsz) and 15 full baggage cars (Dmsz) built by SGP and Jenbacher. Beginning in 1989, a further 33 half-baggage cars of type BDmpsz 82-91 were delivered, featuring a second-class open saloon and a wheelchair area.

With the decline of baggage and express goods transport, all dedicated baggage cars have since been withdrawn from ÖBB service.

Development in France (SNCF)

SNCF baggage vans

OCEM 1929 baggage van Dqm 39820

PLM three-axle baggage van

SNCF Est bogie baggage van

In addition to the types listed below, there were also baggage vans integrated into coach series such as the Rapides Nord or the OCEM riveted stock.

• Dd² Nord vans

The two-axle Dd² Nord vans were built in 180 examples.^[3] They were used in cross-Channel traffic and were withdrawn in 1981.

• OCEM 1929 vans

The two-axle OCEM riveted vans, painted green and 13.63 m long, were delivered between 1930 and 1938. A lookout (vigie) version designated Dqm also existed. Maximum speed was 140 km/h. They were retired in 1977.

In model railroading: the OCEM 29 Dqm van has been produced in HO scale in green livery by REE Modèles (2012).

• PLM three-axle vans

The PLM three-axle vans, in green livery, were built in 1,395 examples. Van Dp 27343 is preserved at the Cité du Train in Mulhouse.

• Est bogie vans

The Dqd²myi bogie vans of the Est Railway were 30 t, 17.47 m long, and of type Dd², built between 1951 and 1957 with reused bogies. 52 examples of type Dd²s included two lockable compartments for customs transit and a side corridor for gangway passage when marshalled in the middle of a train. They could run at 140 km/h and were withdrawn in 1982.

In model railroading: the Est bogie van was produced in HO scale, in green livery, by Jouef (1961–1978).

• U 52 vans

The U 52 van (U for unifié, ordered in 1952) of the SNCF was a two-axle type Dd², in green livery, very similar to the 1938 OCEM design. Fifty were built, entering service in 1954 and retired in 1978.

• Dd⁴s vans

The Ouest-region Dd⁴s vans were created by metalising older stock from 1910–1914, repainted in green livery in 1961. Of type Dd⁴s (four customs compartments and a lateral corridor), they were a precursor to the later DEV AO vans but mounted on État type X bogies (XDR1). Ten units were delivered to the Ouest and 24 to the Sud-Est region, numbered UIC 51 87 95-40 213 to 246 Dd⁴s. They were retired in 1985.

The DEV Dd⁴s, also known as the “UIC van,” weighed 31 t and was 20 m long. With Y24B bogies, it could run at 150 then 160 km/h. 180 examples were built between 1964 and 1980 and retired in 1997. There were four orders: two batches of 40 in 1962 and 1963, followed by two batches of 50 in 1970 and 1972. Many received a two-tone livery: green below and aluminium grey above (roof excluded).

In model railroading, the DEV Dd⁴s has been produced in HO scale:

1. by Jouef, in green livery with Y2 bogies (also a non-detachable variant for Playcraft);
2. by Roco, in two-tone green and grey livery with Y24C bogies;
3. by Meccano, in green livery, etc.

• MC 76 vans

For standardisation, the SNCF ordered 240 vans of 20 m length sharing design elements with Corail coaches.^[4] On Y24B2 bogies, they were cleared for 200 km/h.

The first 80 (entered service 1977) carried the C 160 livery (green and aluminium grey with an orange gangway door). The later 160 vans, introduced from 1978 to 1980, carried the Corail livery (light and dark grey with vermilion doors). They included a lateral corridor allowing placement within a train formation.

All were fitted with two lockable compartments for customs traffic.

Two vans were modified with stalls for transporting competition horses.

Some were sold to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) or to BLS (later resold to SBB). Others are still used by SNCF’s rolling stock test agency. The MC 76 vans sold to SBB were used mainly for bicycle transport on InterCity services. Some were also used in pilgrimage trains carrying bedridden passengers.

In model railroading: the MC 76 has been offered in HO scale by Roco in both liveries.

See also

• Railway post office
• Brake van
• Combine car

References

• Normalien für Betriebsmittel der Preußischen Staatsbahnen. Berlin 1878
• Merkbuch für die Fahrzeuge der Reichsbahn. Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, Reichsbahn-Zentralamt, Berlin 1928.

Inline citations

1. Claudia Selheim, G. Ulrich Großmann, ed. (2019-04-29). Reisebegleiter – mehr als nur Gepäck. Verlag des Germanischen Nationalmuseums. doi:10.11588/arthistoricum.453. ISBN 978-3-947449-48-4. The age of baggage cars and baggage trains ended in the 1990s. In 1995 DB AG closed its last baggage counters, which amounted to a major rationalisation measure.
2. K.k. Oberbaurath Victor Schützenhofer: Die Fahrbetriebsmittel der Wiener Stadtbahn. – II. Wagen der Wiener Stadtbahn. In: Zeitschrift des österreichischen Ingenieur- und Architekten-Vereines, Jahrgang 1897, Nummer 39, S. 549–553.
3. Trains d'Europe: Les fourgons
4. Railfaneurope – MC76 photo