Piko 28334 H0 - Set of 2 cars: a workshop car and a Ks-type flatcar, DB, Era IV

Two-vehicle departmental set of the Deutsche Bundesbahn: workshop coach and type Ks flat wagon

A set of two Deutsche Bundesbahn departmental vehicles from era IV: a rebuilt coach in blue departmental livery adapted as a workshop car, and a type Ks stanchion flat wagon. This was a typical vehicle combination in German engineering trains of the period.

Both vehicles are reproduced to 1:87 scale with accurate proportions. The workshop coach has separately fitted handrails, crystal-clear flush-mounted windows offering a view of the interior, and provision for retrofitting interior lighting. Careful underframe construction ensures reliable running on a layout.

Model specifications:

• Scale: H0 (1:87)
• Catalogue number: 28334
• Manufacturer: PIKO
• Model length: 153 mm (length of the complete set)
• Era: IV
• Coupling: NEM 362 coupler pocket with close coupling kinematics
• Minimum radius: 358 mm
• Two-vehicle set: workshop coach and type Ks stanchion flat wagon
• Interior lighting: can be retrofitted (kit no. 56297, available separately)
• Wheelsets for AC operation, available separately: no. ET53000-429 / 56060
• The model is painted and ready to run
• Recommended age: 14 years and over

Please note: this model is not a starter set — a locomotive and powered track are required.

The wagon model does not include track, a locomotive or a controller. To put it into service you need powered track and a locomotive — analogue or digital. The wagon itself has no drive or electronics, so it behaves the same way on analogue DC track as in a digitally controlled DCC layout. The retrofit kits listed in the specifications, such as interior lighting, are sold separately and are not part of this product.

Model railways – digital or analogue control?

The digital DCC control system allows several locomotives to run independently on the same track. Each vehicle receives individual commands while the rail voltage stays constant, which makes realistic operation possible and allows the lights and sound effects of every locomotive to be controlled separately. In an analogue system all vehicles on a given circuit are controlled at once by varying the supply voltage. PIKO model 28334 is an unpowered wagon without electronics, so it can be marshalled into trains hauled in either analogue or digital operation.

About the Umbauwagen and the Ks flat wagons:

The Umbauwagen (rebuilt coaches) were the Deutsche Bundesbahn's answer to the post-war shortage of modern passenger stock. Rather than build complete coaches from scratch, the railway reused sound underframes and bogies from old compartment coaches of the state railway era and placed entirely new steel bodies on them. Two families emerged: the three-axle 3yg — 6,582 built between 1953 and 1959 — and the four-axle 4yg, 1,821 built between 1955 and 1961. The three-axle vehicles ran permanently coupled in pairs.

Although withdrawal was planned for the mid-1970s, the lack of successors kept the three-axle cars in service into the mid-1980s and the four-axle cars until around 1990–1992. After passenger service many passed to internal railway use as workshop, mess and accommodation vehicles in engineering trains — in the blue departmental livery with the round red DB emblem known to modellers as the roter Keks.

The accompanying Ks stanchion flat wagons were of types Rlmms 56, built from 1955 in a run of 14,200, and Rlmms 58 — close to ten thousand vehicles created from 1959 by rebuilding older flats. After the UIC coding reform they became series Ks and Kbs. In departmental and engineering trains they carried rails, sleepers, machinery and materials.

Prototype specifications:

• Umbauwagen 3yg: 3 axles, length approx. 13,300 mm, top speed 85 km/h singly and 100 km/h in pairs
• 3yg output: 6,582 vehicles between 1953 and 1959
• Rlmms 56 flat: 2 axles, length over buffers 13,860 mm, axle spacing 8,000 mm, payload up to 28.5 t
• Rlmms 58 flat: 2 axles, length over buffers 13,960 mm
• Flat wagon output: 14,200 Rlmms 56 and close to 10,000 Rlmms 58
• Role in era IV: departmental and engineering trains

About the manufacturer – PIKO:

PIKO is a German manufacturer of model railways with more than seventy years of tradition, founded in 1949 in Sonneberg. Today it is one of the most popular model railway brands in Europe and a leading producer of Polish prototype models, including locomotives and coaches in PKP, PKP Intercity and PKP Cargo colours. The range covers H0, TT, N and G scales, from individual wagons to comprehensive starter sets and digital control systems. The PIKO Expert range combines a high level of detail with modern digital technology — with factory-fitted DCC and sound decoders in selected models. PIKO products are valued by modellers and collectors worldwide.