Linke Hofmann Busch-built new diesel trains for Mexico and Germany, 1953

This promo photo shows two new diesel trains built in Germany by Linke Hofmann Busch. It was LHB's first order for such trains after 1945, consisting of articulated diesel sets for the Ferrocarril del Sur Este in Mexico -- in reality, a replica of the Reichsbahn's "Schnelltriebwagen" (high speed railcar), but with a top speed of 120 km/h. Six such trains were built.

Next to it is the Deutsche Bundesbahn's "Senator" diesel train (VT 10 501). Fine looking, but a total mistake. Delivered shortly before the German Transport Exhibition of 1953, the first problems occurred on the way from Salzgitter to Munich. After the exhibition, the DB was planning to use this train on the Frankfurt--Hamburg route, but only a year later the first regular run was made and two months later the train was stopped again after repeated failures. New and unsuccessful trials followed, and in 1959 the "Senator" train was out of use. It was finally scrapped in 1963, making a comeback in 2008 as an HO scale model by Marklin, (Historical Railway Images)