Notes

And another one from todays shoot in the snow. A class 612 tilting train is heading into Goslar station. It’s not actually using it’s tilting mechanism because it’s already way too slow for that.

The class 612 "RegioSwinger" is the third attempt at a tilting regional train, with the previous ones being 610 and 611. Sometimes, numbering schemes can be consistent round here. The 610 worked well and used FIAT tilting mechanisms. The 611 uses a german tilting mechanism and doesn’t work too well. The 612 is a development of the 611 and works generally better, though it has had it’s issues as well. The white dot this unit has in it’s window means that it’s allowed to tilt because it has received new wheel sets. The old ones were likely to crack.

With a top speed of 160 kph (that’s 100 mph if you prefer that for some silly reason), it’s the top of the line when it comes to german regional trains. In fact, apart from being all red and (which is the important part) being paid for by the states, it’s a low end intercity train, a category that the german railroad’s long-distance division abandoned. Some units even got the white/red ICE paint scheme and ran as intercity trains for a while.