Or in German, Schiene-Strasse-Omnibus of the Baureihe or class 401. The Deutsche Bundesbahn or German Federal Railways orderd 2 prototypes in 1951 from the firm Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau in Wilhelmshaven; the bogie-trucks were built by the firm Waggon- und Maschinenbau GmbH in Donauwörth. They arrived and were tested in 1952. Shortly after followed three series vehicles. The buses had a Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz diesel engine with an output of 88 kW or 120 hp which enabled a top speed of 80 km/h on roads and 120 km/h on rails. The cabins had 43 seating places.
In 1953 another 50 were ordered; however, only 15 were used on rails, the rest remained pure road vehicles. This suggests they weren't considered a success, nevertheless, on railway lines that have been given Steven Joyce style treatment, the concept with modern technology should be worth a rethink. They will have no other traffic to compete with, won't require heavy duty track and track maintenance, and will have easy gradients, compared to roads, to cope with. (wikimedia pic 1, DB pic 2)
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