The City-Bahn was a German train category introduced by the Deutsche Bundesbahn

Deutsche Bundesbahn

The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...

 (DB) in 1984 for local train services, in order to make secondary routes more attractive. Old Silberling

Silberling

Silberling is the colloquial name for the n-coaches of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, a type of regional passenger coach of which more than 7,000 units were built from 1958 to 1981...

 coaches were modernised and a more frequent fixed-interval service (Taktfahrplan) introduced. As its use spread the DB changed the way it was written to CityBahn. The City-Bahn was replaced by the Stadt-Express

Stadt-Express

The Stadt-Express , formerly City-Bahn , was a category of train in the Deutsche Bahn, that linked conurbations in Germany with the outer reaches of the surrounding countryside...

.

Routes

One of the services was the Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

–Overath

Overath

Overath is a town in the Rheinisch-Bergischer district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Overath is located about 25 km east of Cologne, in the Bergisches Land...

–Gummersbach

Gummersbach

Gummersbach is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located 50 km east of Cologne. In the past it was nicknamed "the Lime Tree Town", because lime trees lined the main street...

 line, which was opened in 1984 as the Aggertaler on the Agger Valley Railway

Agger Valley Railway

Agger Valley Railway is the established name of two railway lines in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia:* the Siegburg–Olpe railway, the historic Agger Valley Railway that is now only open between Overath and Dieringhausen,...

 (Aggertalbahn, KBS 459). For experimental services on the closure-threatened line, Silberling

Silberling

Silberling is the colloquial name for the n-coaches of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, a type of regional passenger coach of which more than 7,000 units were built from 1958 to 1981...

 coaches were converted to the then modern interiors of the VT 628.2

DB Class 628

The DB Class 628 is a twin-car, diesel multiple unit operated by the Deutsche Bahn AG for local passenger rail services.- Design :...

 and, like the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn, painted in orange and light grey livery. A café was also part of the redesign. The trains were hauled by similarly painted locomotives of Class 218

DB Class 218

The DB Class 218 are a class of 4 axle, diesel hydraulic locomotives acquired by the Deutsche Bundesbahn for use on main and secondary lines for both passenger and freight trains....

. The modernised rolling stock and the fixed hourly services led to a considerable increase in passengers. From 1985 the new City-Bahn rakes ran from Cologne to Gummersbach, and sometimes onwards via Marienheide

Marienheide

-History:The first documentary mention of the place was in 1417 " in a sales document is called Heydenreich of our dear Mrs. Knecht on the Mergenheyde " -History:The first documentary mention of the place was in 1417 " in a sales document is called Heydenreich of our dear Mrs. Knecht on the...

 to Meinerzhagen

Meinerzhagen

Meinerzhagen is a town in the Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Meinerzhagen is located in the hills of the Sauerland. The highest elevation is the Nordhelle with 663 m above sea level, the lowest elevation at the Lister dam with 319m...

; however this only lasted until May 1986, then they only went as far as Marienheide, and from May 1987 only to Gummersbach again.

The second City-Bahn route was the Lower Elbe railway (Niederelbebahn

Niederelbebahn

The Lower Elbe Railway , is a railway line between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in northwestern Germany, which was opened in 1881 by the Lower Elbe Railway Company...

), where trains ran between Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Stade

Stade

Stade is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region . It is the seat of the district named after it...

. Because the line is electrified, Class 141 locomotives were employed.

In the same year City-Bahn trains were also deployed to the area of Hanover and from 1989 in the Saarland

Saarland

Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...

. However the specially converted Silberling

Silberling

Silberling is the colloquial name for the n-coaches of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, a type of regional passenger coach of which more than 7,000 units were built from 1958 to 1981...

 coaches did not appear here until 1990.

In 1995 the City-Bahn services were renamed Stadt-Express

Stadt-Express

The Stadt-Express , formerly City-Bahn , was a category of train in the Deutsche Bahn, that linked conurbations in Germany with the outer reaches of the surrounding countryside...

, later Regionalbahn

RegionalBahn

The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...

and RegionalExpress

RegionalExpress

The term Regional-Express denotes a type of regional train in Germany and Austria .It is best compared to a semi-fast train, as it calls at fewer stations than Regionalbahn or S-Bahn trains, but stops more often than InterCity services...

trains superseded the City-Bahn as a train type. In Hanover the Hanover S-Bahn

Hanover S-Bahn

The Hanover S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network operated by DB Regio in the area of Hanover in the German state capital of Lower Saxony...

 had the honour of running City-Bahn services.

Models

The german model train company Marklin

Märklin

Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Wurttemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys...

 has made a model of the "City-Bahn" line for a limited series in 2009. The road number for the engine is BR 218 143-6, and is item number 39182. Additional Silberling

Silberling

Silberling is the colloquial name for the n-coaches of the Deutsche Bundesbahn, a type of regional passenger coach of which more than 7,000 units were built from 1958 to 1981...

passenger cars are also made under item numbers 43808 (3 car set), and 43818 (add on car for 43808 and 39182).