Taurus/Eurosprinter liveries.
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:03 pm
Ok, this is pretty amazing stuff. I was just looking around for detail shots of the OBB (Austrian Railways) Railjet. This is because Gumboots has changed his mind on cargo cars (again, I know, bear with me on this
) and decided to go back to the Railjet cars for the 21st century.
The short explanation is that that are lower poly than ICE cars, they look clean and modern and well-proportioned, they are in more widespread use (Siemens Viaggio units, in service in a range of places) and I already knew the standard Austrian and Czech liveries were quite nice, and I just like the things. Anyway...
What I didn't know was that the Austrians and Germans will just randomly decide to repaint half their rolling stock whenever they feel like celebrating something. Not only that, but the designers and painters are extremely skilled and imaginative. The result has been some of the most amazing liveries ever. These are all the real thing. No fakes.
The wildest paint jobs seem to be saved for locomotives, presumably because repainting a loco is a lot quicker and easier than doing entire trainsets, although the Austrians have done some trainsets too. The Europsrinter/Taurus locomotive seems to be the unit that gets the treatment most often. This one was painted up like an Adler, for the 175th anniversary of German rail:
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4651/25059846047_e9b134367e_b.jpg)
![Image](https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1488/25141212706_842869c4b2_b.jpg)
And this was for the 140th anniversary of a particular line:
![Image](https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1846/42343792240_d76d4ac39b_b.jpg)
You ain't seen nothing yet. How about the 175th anniversary of something to do with some princess? Both shots are the same unit, but the two sides are have different liveries.
![Image](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5606/30169375160_de7b56b2f0_b.jpg)
![Image](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5548/29836923684_0d28203b9e_b.jpg)
Then they decided Richard Wagner's birthday was worth a paint job, so they did this:
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4724/38765913910_b7d16b26a6_b.jpg)
That was the Germans. The Austrians decided that was far too restrained, and they should celebrate Wagner and Verdi together. Which led to some pretty spectacular results.
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5551/14623692768_0ef707f01c_h.jpg)
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2928/14830124943_1e22e52402_h.jpg)
The Germans decided to celebrate welcoming a stack of refugees, so came up with this...
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4423/35635966633_05aae715c8_b.jpg)
And then, among other things, used it to haul some tank cars around the tracks. Yes, it's the same locomotive.
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4743/38700954255_1eb5c7cf23_b.jpg)
Last but not least, the Austrians decided that if the Germans could paint a Taurus up like an old steamer for their 175th railway anniversary, then Austria wasn't going to be outdone.
![Image](https://scalaenne.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/obb1216-020-i.jpg)
![Image](https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/9173459963402633/filePointer/9173460006965891/fodoid/9173460006965887/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/obb%2520taurus%2520175%2520Jahre.jpg)
The locomotive they used as inspiration for the paint job was the old Class 310 2-6-4, which among other things hauled the Orient Express back in the early 20th century. Needless to say, I very much approve of painting up boring electric locomotives to look like real choofers.![cheers (0!!0)](./images/smilies/cheers.gif)
These are only a handful of the things that have been done with these units. There are stacks of other liveries online.
![!DUH! *!*!*!](./images/smilies/smilie120.gif)
The short explanation is that that are lower poly than ICE cars, they look clean and modern and well-proportioned, they are in more widespread use (Siemens Viaggio units, in service in a range of places) and I already knew the standard Austrian and Czech liveries were quite nice, and I just like the things. Anyway...
What I didn't know was that the Austrians and Germans will just randomly decide to repaint half their rolling stock whenever they feel like celebrating something. Not only that, but the designers and painters are extremely skilled and imaginative. The result has been some of the most amazing liveries ever. These are all the real thing. No fakes.
The wildest paint jobs seem to be saved for locomotives, presumably because repainting a loco is a lot quicker and easier than doing entire trainsets, although the Austrians have done some trainsets too. The Europsrinter/Taurus locomotive seems to be the unit that gets the treatment most often. This one was painted up like an Adler, for the 175th anniversary of German rail:
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4651/25059846047_e9b134367e_b.jpg)
![Image](https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1488/25141212706_842869c4b2_b.jpg)
And this was for the 140th anniversary of a particular line:
![Image](https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1846/42343792240_d76d4ac39b_b.jpg)
You ain't seen nothing yet. How about the 175th anniversary of something to do with some princess? Both shots are the same unit, but the two sides are have different liveries.
![Image](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5606/30169375160_de7b56b2f0_b.jpg)
![Image](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5548/29836923684_0d28203b9e_b.jpg)
Then they decided Richard Wagner's birthday was worth a paint job, so they did this:
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4724/38765913910_b7d16b26a6_b.jpg)
That was the Germans. The Austrians decided that was far too restrained, and they should celebrate Wagner and Verdi together. Which led to some pretty spectacular results.
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5551/14623692768_0ef707f01c_h.jpg)
![Image](https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2928/14830124943_1e22e52402_h.jpg)
The Germans decided to celebrate welcoming a stack of refugees, so came up with this...
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4423/35635966633_05aae715c8_b.jpg)
And then, among other things, used it to haul some tank cars around the tracks. Yes, it's the same locomotive.
![Image](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4743/38700954255_1eb5c7cf23_b.jpg)
Last but not least, the Austrians decided that if the Germans could paint a Taurus up like an old steamer for their 175th railway anniversary, then Austria wasn't going to be outdone.
![Image](https://scalaenne.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/obb1216-020-i.jpg)
![Image](https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/9173459963402633/filePointer/9173460006965891/fodoid/9173460006965887/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/obb%2520taurus%2520175%2520Jahre.jpg)
The locomotive they used as inspiration for the paint job was the old Class 310 2-6-4, which among other things hauled the Orient Express back in the early 20th century. Needless to say, I very much approve of painting up boring electric locomotives to look like real choofers.
![cheers (0!!0)](./images/smilies/cheers.gif)
These are only a handful of the things that have been done with these units. There are stacks of other liveries online.