DB Bm²³⁴ coach (FRG) Roco

Brand - Reference

Roco 64316

Type

2nd class coach of the West Germany Railways (Deutsche Bundesbahn) B4üm Bauart 1962 (type 234) in ocean blue and beige livery.

UIC number	Revision date
51 80 22-80 003-2	12.09.85

Weight

175 g (NEM: 121 to 158 g)

Comments

Era IVb. Quality a bit below the DB ref 644xx Roco coaches, but it dates from 1990! Distinctly too low.

The corridor wall, poorly maintained, leans and squirms. UIC rubber joints are not hollow. The roof is easy to disassemble, but not the chassis! The axles rotate in metal bearings to power a lighting.

See:

• gamos81.altervista.org for the reference list of issued DB UIC-X coach models.
• modellbau-wiki.de website
• Loco-Revue Forum

Modifications

• Axles insulated in the middle, wheels painted in grey. A drawbar broken when attempting to remove a coupling, re-glued with superglue and reinforced with steel wire ⌀ 0.4; broken again, repaired with a NEM Ribu box.
• Corridor wall straightened by gluing on the compartment walls.
• Body raised with 1 mm thick plastic spacers 1-point suspension side and 0.5 mm 2-point suspension side. Resulting height: 46.3 mm.
• Decoration of floors and walls by printed and cut up paper.
• Tail lights and lighting controlled by bistable reed switch.

History

The Bm²³⁴ are ex B4üm 234 of 1963 (Bauart 1962), made in 1848 units. The subseries numbered 22-70 001 to 610 concerns coaches limited to 160 km/h.

These coaches are numbered 51 80 22-30 001-x to 102-x (140 km/h and no steam heating), 51 80 22-41 000-x to 499-x (140 km/h), 51 80 22-70 001-x to 610-x (160 km/h) and 51 80 22-73 915-x (160 km/h and 1000 V 16 ⅔ Hz). The Roco coach is not included because it is allowed at 200 km/h (electromagnetic brake blocks).

Source : dbtrains.com

Documents

• Wikipedia article on UIC X coaches (in German).
• dbtrains.com website.