The
Schnell-Verbrennungs-Triebwagen (fast internal combustion railcar) or SVT 877 designated as the Hamburg Flyer – and often called the
Fliegender Hamburger (Flying Hamburger) – was one of the world's first high-speed diesel multiple units. The train consisted of two cars – each having a driver's cab and passenger saloon – and was ordered by the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG - German Empire Railways) in 1932 from Waggon- and Maschinenbau AG Görlitz (WUMAG). The train entered service in 1933. Total train length was 41.9 metres.
The train's streamline form was intended to reduce wind resistance based on pioneering research by the developers of the high-speed interurban railcar Bullet in the USA a couple of years before. Its lightweight, articulated construction and Jakobs bogies were also known on the US interurban scene although the
Fliegender Hamburger used diesel-electric power and transmission. Each of the two cars had a 12-cylinder Maybach diesel engine with a direct current generator directly coupled to it, which drove a Tatzlager-traction motor. The two engines developed a combined power of 604 kW. Axle arrangement was 2-Bo-2.
The train used both a pneumatic brake developed by Knorr and an electromagnetic rail brake. Passenger seats totalled 98 in two saloon coaches with a four-seat buffet (catering service was provided by Mitropa, see earlier post). The Hamburg Flyer was the prototype for the later trains of the DRG Class SVT 137, which were called Hamburg, Leipzig, Köln and Berlin. As a sign of its status, the Hamburg Flyer was painted cream and violet – like the cars of the Rheingold Express train.
The success of this design led Henschel to develop the streamlined and steam-powered Henschel-Wegmann Train in 1935 which boasted comparable performances on the routes between Berlin and Dresden.
The train had a top speed of 160 km/h and between Hamburg and Berlin it managed an average speed of 124 km/h which took until 1997 tyo be equalled again by the ICE trains (the post war division of Germany was a major factor in slowing down speeds to Berlin after WW2 of course).
After 1945 the train sets were confiscated by the French occupation army and were used in France until 1949. The Deutsche Bundesbahn put them into service again up to 1957, but with a red painted hull and a new type number (VT 04 000). Of the original Flying Hamburger train only the driver's cab, the engine compartment and the saloon are preserved in the Transport Museum in Nurnberg. A set of the Series SVT 137, which had previously been refitted for DDR government use, is preserved complete at Leipzig station
