ALEX trains

[locoholic]

My 12 year old son has acquired a Piko Alex starter train set - his name is Alex, and a train with his name writ large appeals to his ego.

 

He would like to know where these trains go in real life, and all the other relevant details.

 

I suspect this is partly revenge on his elder brother, who took great delight in going to the station on the Harz Schmalspurbahn called Alexisbad!

 

Thanks

[PaulRhB]

I'd say AlexIsBad is quite a cool reference

 

More on the Alex service route here

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(Zug)

[Ian Morgan]

The Alex branding is short for Allgau Express. It is now run by Arriva, and the livery has changed to light blue. I took a few photos when I was living in Munich.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Ian Morgan
re-loaded images

[Ian Morgan]

The Alex locos are known as Hercules.

[Allegheny1600]

Here's a few photos I took in September 2014;

 

A complete rake of coaches at Hof.

 

1st/2nd class coach

 

The lone double decker in the train.

 

The dining car, now only really a 'bar' coach but formerly a high class experience inside this.

 

Some of the detail on the dining car note: the 27.5m length!

 

The 'Herkules' Diesel loco.

 

On the outskirts of Munich.

 

They also use electric traction, seen here is the specially liveried 'Taurus'.

 

Nice trains!

Cheers,

John.

[locoholic]

Thank you for all the info and photos - very much appreciated.

 

None of the trains seems to be push-pull. Does anyone know what the procedure is at the termini - another loco on the back, or released by a station pilot?

[jonhall]

Thank you for all the info and photos - very much appreciated.

 

None of the trains seems to be push-pull. Does anyone know what the procedure is at the termini - another loco on the back, or released by a station pilot?

 

From memory at Lindau it was done as a conventional run round, although looking at my photos it appears that the stock was shunted out of the platforms into sidings between arriving and departing and I have photos of the loco 'free from train' in the sidings, but I suppose it could have been refueled as well - on both occasions I've been to Lindau I've arrived behind double headed 01 pacifics, so not been entirely focused on Alex's trains activities.

 

At Reggensburg, where there is a reversal and change from Diesel to Electric in a through platform, its a very slick move getting the loco off the front and into a siding, then the new loco onto the other end. Alex is an open access operator and I suspect doesn't pay DB for shunter services.

 

Jon

Edited January 1, 2018 by jonhall

[Ian Morgan]

On a couple of occasions, I did see an Alex train near Munich with a loco at both ends, but it was not an everyday occurrence.

 

At Munich Hauptbahnhof, quite a lot of trains are shunted out of the platform by a station pilot, freeing the hauling locomotive. The train is then put back into the platform and a new loco arrives to take the train away. Although I did not actually see this happen for an Alex train, it was sometimes done even when the train had a driving trailer.

[torqueofthedevil]

Here are a few pics of an Alex Taurus and its train at Munich Hbf, taken in October 2016

[raetiamann]

The ALEX train sets have a long layover in Lindau. A departing set passes in next incoming set soon after getting off the island; I filmed two passing each other on the main line by Lindau-Aeschach. This gives them just under two hours platform occupation at the Hbf.

 

The Munich to Lindau/Oberstdorf train splits/joins at Immenstadt. The split train can consist of 2,3 or 4 coaches.

[40F]

The Alex branding is short for Allgau Express. It is now run by Arriva, and the livery has changed to light blue. I took a few photos when I was living in Munich.

 

DB had to sell off all the Arriva companies in Germany after it acquired Arriva. The Arriva assets were sold to and Italian company and one other. This was due to competition laws within the EU 

[Blobrick]

Looking at the livery of the rolling stock, there seems to be something a miss with Fleischmann's 881901 "Alex" coach set. Issued in 2020 it states Era VI 2006 onwards, but the livery on the coaches seems more grey that blue to me, either that or l m going colour blind now!

 

Bob C