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Description
Alex (a brand of Vogtlandbahn; the name Alex used to stand for something, then it stood for something else, and finally they just dropped the standing for something part) operates medium-distance trains in Bavaria on a number of different lines. The most interesting for me is the north line from either Hof or Praha via Regensburg to Munich, which sees up to four different locomotives during a train's run, including, on the Munich-Regensburg part, one of the company's five electric locomotives. Their class 183 is a Siemens ES64U4, functionally identical to the ÖBB 1216 (Taurus III), but unlike that only approved for AC networks. I'm not sure whether that means it doesn't have any DC equipment, or whether the DC equipment is simply unused. The locomotives are approved for up to 230 km/h, and one of their austrian sisters holds the world speed record for locomotives (as opposed to EMUs) at 357 km/h, but the Alex ones never reach anywhere near that.

A typical Alex train consists of three to eight single-deck carriages and exactly one double-deck car. The seven double-deck cars are mainly there to provide wheelchair accessibility, something the old (somewhat refurbished) single-deck cars cannot offer. For this reason, it is very unusual to see five of these cars in one train, as here in Munich central station. I have no idea what was going on there.

In 2010, locomotive 183 001 got a special livery to celebrate 175 years of railroads in Germany; it is vaguely patterned after "Adler", the first locomotive to ever be used in Germany, a typical Stephenson 1'A1' (2-2-2) type. This is already the second version of the livery; the original had different operator logos, which were patched over. You can see it if you know where to look, but it doesn't hurt the overall impression at all.

Description
Alex (a brand of Vogtlandbahn; the name Alex used to stand for something, then it stood for something else, and finally they just dropped the standing for something part) operates medium-distance trains in Bavaria on a number of different lines. The most interesting for me is the north line from either Hof or Praha via Regensburg to Munich, which sees up to four different locomotives during a train's run, including, on the Munich-Regensburg part, one of the company's five electric locomotives. Their class 183 is a Siemens ES64U4, functionally identical to the ÖBB 1216 (Taurus III), but unlike that only approved for AC networks. I'm not sure whether that means it doesn't have any DC equipment, or whether the DC equipment is simply unused. The locomotives are approved for up to 230 km/h, and one of their austrian sisters holds the world speed record for locomotives (as opposed to EMUs) at 357 km/h, but the Alex ones never reach anywhere near that.

A typical Alex train consists of three to eight single-deck carriages and exactly one double-deck car. The seven double-deck cars are mainly there to provide wheelchair accessibility, something the old (somewhat refurbished) single-deck cars cannot offer. For this reason, it is very unusual to see five of these cars in one train, as here in Munich central station. I have no idea what was going on there.

In 2010, locomotive 183 001 got a special livery to celebrate 175 years of railroads in Germany; it is vaguely patterned after "Adler", the first locomotive to ever be used in Germany, a typical Stephenson 1'A1' (2-2-2) type. This is already the second version of the livery; the original had different operator logos, which were patched over. You can see it if you know where to look, but it doesn't hurt the overall impression at all.