...but an interesting one nonetheless, I think. Well, actually that idea didn't pop up on me today, but a few days ago, but only today did I think about it in more detail.Anyway, here's what I would call the Rail-O-Home - or, in other words, some kind of a Winnebago on rails. You could take any type of DMU or EMU or even a normal combination of locomotives and cars as the basis. I, however, would probably pick one of the DMUs which the German DB is operating as classes 643 and 644:
Class 643
Class 644These are two derivatives from Bombardier's famous Talent series, which is, IIRC, also being used in North America. Both consist of three articulated sections, with the biggest technical difference being that the 643 has diesel-hydraulic transmission and 857 hp, while the 644 is diesel-electric and has 1,374 hp. I could pick any kind of EMU as well, but I think that a DMU might be more practical in this case, because this way I would be able to drive into non-electrified territories.
Anyway, as the name "Rail-O-Home" suggests, I would customize my hypothetical 643 or 644 in such a way as to turn it into a railway motorhome. Of course, I would not need as many doors as the regular passenger version has - one door on each side in the centre section would be sufficient. The window layout would be different from the passenger version as well, because, well, there may be rooms where nobody should be able to peek in from the outside . Here's a basic room layout I might consider:* The first end section would accommodate the galley as well as the living/dining room. The former would have, well, all appliances you need in modern cuisine, while the latter would, of course, feature a full HiFi and home cinema array with wide-screen TV or maybe even a video beamer, VHS and DVD player, as well as Dolby or THX sound equipment .* The centre section would accommodate the "entry hall" with wardrobe, as well as the bathroom with all required appliances, including, of course, a jacuzzi .* The other end section would accommodate the master bedroom (with water mattress ) as well as an office with all features you could think of...including, for example, a computer (AMD Hammer CPU, Radeon 9700 or better vid card, full SCSI, 100 Mbit bi-directional satellite DSL), satellite telephone/fax, and many other nice things. Aren't I modest?
Of coure, one question remains...namely how to be able to drive my hypothetical private train as freely as I could drive a car. I guess that you would need to contact the railway company in order to request "track time" (or whatever you call it) for your travels, and I could imagine that this might be a problem, depending on the company's flexibility. Or maybe they would demand a large amount of money for track rights...but I guess that if one is able to afford a personal train, he could also pay the track toll easily.
Jeez, I must have been travelling too much by train recently to be able to even think up such weird ideas ...Cheers,Dominik MannProud German railfan - Visit www.tssf.de www.bahn.de : Official DB web site
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