The “Flying Hamburger.”

To the world-famed giants among passenger trains, like the “Flying Scotsman,” the “Royal Scot.” the Wellington-Auckland Limited, the “Twentieth Century Limited,” and the Chicago-Los Angeles “Chief,” there is now to be added another name. This is the “Flying Hamburger” of the German National Railways, operating between Berlin and the port of Hamburg.

The “Flying Hamburger” covers the 178 miles between the German capital and Hamburg in about 140 minutes, a throughout average speed of 75 m.p.h. It is not a conventional heavy passenger train, this remarkable “Flying Hamburger,” but a two-car articulated train, accommodating 102 passengers, and driven by two 410 h.p. Maybach-Diesel engines. The train is the result of lengthy experiments conducted by the German authorities with Diesel-electric units, and in the near future it is likely that many new services of this character will be introduced. In general, Germany is not a land of high passenger train speeds. The main-line services are not particularly speedy, although they are exceptionally punctual. Forty miles an hour is considered quite a good average express speed in Germany, and for all practical purposes this speed appears to meet adequately the needs of German travellers.

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