COBI DR BR 52 Steam Locomotive & Railway Semaphore

The railway collection from COBI is still growing! Another historical railway wagon in 1:35 scale is joining the series. This is the legendary restaurant wagon that was part of the famous Orient Express, well-known from the armistices in Compiègne. The wagon is one of the most important symbols of both world wars, but it is also inextricably linked to railways, luxury and design style.

After the total defeat of France in the 1940 campaign, the Germans found the wagon and forced the defeated French to sign the armistice in it. This only highlights how much the roles had reversed since the first armistice of WWI. On June 22, 1940, the German-French armistice was signed, after which the wagon was transported to Berlin, as an exceptionally valuable war prize affecting German morale and a symbol of superiority over France. It was placed in front of the Berlin Cathedral as a monument to victory.

The wagon, measuring almost 60 centimeters, is a completely new entry to the railway series from COBI. Behind its detailed sides there is a perfectly reproduced interior, which can be easily seen after easily detaching the roof. The aforementioned sides are covered with blocks with wood texture and prints, thanks to which the wagon looks just like the original. The gold prints show the logo of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the wagon number and an extensive slogan located above the windows. The wagon has opening doors on the sides, on its front walls in the passages between the wagons and inside between the subsequent sections. The wagon's interior is the same as in June 1940. The set includes two figures representing the two sides that signed the armistice.

The wagon has a special block base consisting of five track elements and a profiled embankment with the name of the set.

In 1944, the wagon was moved to the Crawinkel area, where it was stationed in a specially built tunnel. It is suspected that it was destroyed during an Allied air raid on the city of Ohrdruf in 1944, or burned by the SS in 1945.