2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Donnerbuechse-Sonderfahrt SEH 08.12.07 in Crailsheim: © Sam Gamdschie / Wikipedia· CC BY 3.0
- 2. Losheim Donnerbüchse: -- Xocolatl 21:20, 12 July 2007 (UTC)· Public domain
what is it?
The German term Donnerbüchse (plural: Donnerbüchsen, formerly Donnerwagen) means "thunderbox" and is the nickname for the four-wheeled, open, passenger coaches, built from 1921 onwards, that served with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. In contrast to their predecessors, they were made entirely of iron or steel. The name comes from the loud rumbling of these coaches as a result of their lack of damping.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- 13.9 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
carriage / wagon: Unpowered passenger coaches or freight wagons, pulled by a locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- —
- number built
- 8,255
- kind
- carriage / wagon
- origin
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- builders
- Unknown builder
- operators
- Austrian Society for Railway History, Deutsche Reichsbahn
- top speed
- 90 km/h
- power
- —
- length
- 13.9 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q1241868, Wikipedia: Donnerbüchse (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.