Hello you railfans

Tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of the Trans Europ Express services. Apart from model train brands issuing special models of TEE trainsets and locomotive-hauled trains, and a short video broadcasted Wednesday evening by Arte-TV in their weekly show Zoom-Europa, it seems nothing special is going on.

So I propose you to remember the TEE glory days watching a video of “Trans Europe Express” sung by the famous German band Kraftwerk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWlgbAc3bbM

I knew the song, of course, but I had never seen this video. There are historical shots of the pre-WWII Zeppelin-Krukenberg propeller-propelled railcar (which has nothing to do with TEE, apart the shape of his nose perhaps inspired the designer of the DB’s VT601 trainsets). They are mixed with views of a model one travelling in a futurist scenery, and of the 4 musicians travelling onboard a TEE train.

Here is a sound-only extract with a better rendition:

http://tools.wikimedia.de/~gmaxwell/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php?path=Trans-Europe_Express.ogg&wiki=en

Here are several sites devoted to TEEs:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Europ-Express This is the French Wikipedia. You can get more or less the same article in you own language by clicking it in the left margin. The German one features more photos. The Italian one is a bit different. Most of them provide external links at the bottom of the page.

http://homepages.cwi.nl/~dik/english/public_transport/TEE/

http://www.tee-classics.ch

http://www.stichtingtee.nl