In planning the launch of the TEE services, it was decided to use diesel-powered fixed sets for the new trains. While the French and the Italians refined existing designs, the Germans introduced a new design, the VT 11.5. The Swiss and Dutch railways cooperated on a joint development for a new 4-car diesel-electric trainset. The design comprised:
A power car with compartments for luggage, customs and the train conductor.
A nine-compartment trailer car
A kitchen-restaurant trailer car with a 32-seat dining section, and an 18-seat first-class open saloon
A driving trailer car with 42-seat open saloon, and a staff sleeping compartment.
All 114 seats were first class, with 2+1 seating in the saloons, and 2+2 in the dining section. The power cars were built by Werkspoor, with electrics by Brown, Boveri & Cie; they were powered by a pair of RUHB diesel engines. A third diesel engine of provided power for heating, lighting, air-conditioning and the kitchen in the dining car. The trailer cars were built by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft ; the design was based on the SBB's standard carriage design due to the short time available for design and construction. Only one entrance vestibule was provided at the front end of the cars, doors were of the folding aluminum type, and windows were double-glazed with a passenger-operated venetian blinds between the panes. The sets were equipped with Scharfenberg couplers, and were geared for a maximum speed of. They were painted in the TEE colours of dark red and cream. Ownership of the sets was down-played in favour of the service – the restaurant cars having TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS lettering above the windows, while the owner and fleet number were only marked by small lettering on the power cars
Service
From 2 June 1957 to 30 May 1964 the five sets were used in a four-day service pool as follows:
* TEE 128 L'Étoile du Nord — Amsterdam CS – Paris-Nord
* TEE 145 L'Oiseau Bleu — Paris-Nord – Brussels-Midi
Day 3
* TEE 108 L'Oiseau Bleu — Bruxelles-Midi – Paris-Nord
* TEE 125 L'Étoile du Nord — Paris-Nord – Amsterdam CS
Day 4
* TEE 31 Edelweiss : Amsterdam CS – Zürich HB
Day 5
* Maintenance layover in Zürich
One curious feature of this pool was the use of Swiss-Dutch stock on a Franco-Belgian route. When a RAm/DE4 set was unavailable, an SNCF locomotive with a set of was substituted. From 31 May 1964, the L'Oiseau Bleu went to permanently locomotive-hauled Inox coaches, whereupon the service pool became:
Day 1:
* TEE 30 Edelweiss — Zürich HB – Amsterdam CS
Day 2
* TEE 122 L'Étoile du Nord — Amsterdam CS – Paris-Nord
* TEE 125 L'Étoile du Nord — Paris-Nord – Amsterdam CS
Day 3
* TEE 31 Edelweiss : Amsterdam CS – Zürich HB
The spare and maintenance sets were stationed ant Zürich and Amsterdam. From 2 August 1964L'Étoile du Nord also went loco-hauled; the service pool changing to a three-day circuit:
This three-day pool lasted until one trainset was written off in an accident in February 1971 whereafter the remaining 4 sets were diagrammed for use only on the Edelweiss until 24 May 1974 which was their last day in TEE service.
– On 9 February 1971 SBB 501 was running as the northbound Bavaria with 53 passengers on board. Running trailer-first on the double track Munich–Lindau line, it entered an S-curve near Aitrang at about and derailed, fouling both lines. It was then struck by a VT98 Uerdingen railbus. Twenty-eight were killed and 42 were seriuosuly injured. Of the fatalities, 26 were in the TEE, 2 in the railbus, and included both drivers, and the German actor/director Leonard Steckel. The cause, although not known for certain, was assumed to be brake failure, possible caused by condensation freezing in the air-brake lines. The three trailers were scrapped on site; the power car as taken to Tilburg works, but was later condemned and scrapped.
End of TEE service
As from 26 May 1974, TEE discontinued the use of diesel trainsets on all its services. The three Dutch and the surviving Swiss set were stored at Utrecht until another use or a buyer could be found. A plan by NS to convert them to electric operation come to nothing. In 1977, all four were sold to the Ontario Northland Railway of Canada.
Northlander
The four trainsets were shipped to Canada, and after being modified to make them compliant with Canadian railway standards, they entered Ontario Northland service on the Northlander between Toronto Union Station and Timmins. Unfortunately the power cars proved unsatisfactory - they could not cope with the harsh Canadian winters, and the maintenance crews were unfamiliar with the European equipment. In 1979, the power cars were replaced with standard EMD FP7 diesel locomotives; the driving trailers were not adapted to work with the new power, and so became purely locomotive-hauled stock, and continued in service until February 1992.
Repatriation
The Swiss foundation TEE Classics bought eight cars to restore a trainset to its original condition. Five cars were repatriated to Europe:
They were loaded onto the Norwegiancargo ship and sailed from Saint John, New Brunswick on 19 October 1998, arriving at Hamburg on 5 November. After standing in Hamburg docks for several months due to having Canadian rather than European wheel profiles, they were moved to Heilbronn. One of the driving trailers was restored and displayed at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne. In June 2006 the TEE Netherlands Foundation brought all five cars together at Zwolle for restoration. One of the trailer cars was repainted back into the TEE red and cream livery to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the trainsets introduction. They also plan to construct a new powercar to replace the missing originals, none of which survive.
Models
Models of the RAm have been manufactured by Märklin and Roco in HO scale and by Trix in both HO scale, and in N. Models of the RAm and Dutch DE trainsets were also made by LS Models and RailTop in exact 1/87 scale. A new model, fully made of metal will be released by Maerklin and Trix in 2020 as an Insider model.
