locoholic Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted December 30, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 30, 2017 I'd say AlexIsBad is quite a cool reference More on the Alex service route here https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(Zug) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted December 30, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) 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 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted December 30, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 30, 2017 The Alex locos are known as Hercules. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 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. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
locoholic Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 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? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 (edited) 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 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted January 1, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 1, 2018 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
torqueofthedevil Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 Here are a few pics of an Alex Taurus and its train at Munich Hbf, taken in October 2016 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raetiamann Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
40F Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blobrick Posted July 25, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2023 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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