Article & Photos By Al Babinsky

Last year the Triple T acquired another unusual piece of rolling stock, a Wismar Railbus from the SVG (Sylter Verkehrsgesellschaft) Sylt Transportation Company. The SVG operated a Narrow Gage, Meter gage, rail road on the island of Sylt in Northern Germany. The railbus was originally purchased by the Kriegsmarine {Navy}for transportation of personnel and cargo to their bases in the North and South of the island. After WWII the railbus became property of the Sylter Inselbahn (Sylt Island RR) the fore runner of the SVG. It was in storage until steam operation ceased in the 50ties and operation began with railbuses. The Wismar railbus was powered with two Ford engines one on each end, they powered the axle on their end. During operations one of the engines suffered major damage and could not be repaired. Instead of scrapping the railbus the SVG removed the engine hood and all and replaced it with a Borgward truck engine and front end. The LGB model represents this particular railbus T 25 and the sound system also represents the different sound of the two engines. When changing directions, the proper engine starts and you can tell the difference in the sound. The accompanying photos shows the railbus after the replacement with the Borgward front end, you can see the difference in the hood and the radiators. The photo of the camouflaged version during operation of the Kriegsmarine as apparent by the uniforms. This particular bus was number 22 and had a trailer number 14. The bar that you see hanging under the front end was the coupling bar for the trailer. I believe the person standing in front of the door was the conductor/driver of the bus and a civilian. You can see the writing in the white band says Sylter Inselbahn to give the appearance of a civilian operation, the fact was that the military had control before and during the war. The personnel of the railroad before the takeover stayed on during the war and afterwards the state took over and then turned it over to private hands.

  • Ford front end
  • Borgward front end

Al