Dm7 at Suolahti Apr 17th 1998. Photo Wäiski Savela.
Dm6 and Dm7 was railways response to competition from buses in local traffic in 1950es. Dm6 and Dm7 differ only a little. The biggest difference is that Dm7 has bigger wheels.
Models for Dm6 were German 695 and Swedish Y7, from which Dm6 is almost a direct replica. In peoples mouth railbuses were known as "Lättähattu".
Rail buses were built to be light in weight. They were equipped with Scharfenberg type automatic couplers, so rail bus trains up to 10 wagons could be made. In such trains also un-motered wagons EFiab were used.
On years 1970-1971 numbers 4145-4147 were modified for express goods traffic without passenger seats with serie code DmG7. They were withdrawn on year 1981. From year 1970 20 Dm7 railcars were modified to electrified track works wagon Ttv.
Last time rail buses were used in 1988 around Pieksämäki, Joensuu and Oulu. Now they are used in summer in museum trains, e.g. on line Kerava-Porvoo.
Source: Eonsuu-Honkanen-Pölhö: Suomen veturit, osa 2. Moottorikalusto
See also
2375 visits Nov 7th 1999-Mar 31th 2007. Note that we don't work for VR. Created Sun, Nov 7 1999 Kimmo Kotimäki. Updated Sat, Mar 31 2007 Kimmo Kotimäki. Copying is allowed only by written agreement with the author, except for private use.