AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

The railway preservation movement has saved a vast number of railway locomotives, coaches, wagons and other artefacts for future generations to enjoy. This includes the machines that have been saved by the national railway companies themselves. However, sometimes a special item may slip through the net. De4/5 no. 796 is one of these.

Number 796 is the last survivor of a small series of motor baggage and passenger vans conceived in the 1920s. It should be preserved for future generations to see it, even though it is no longer in its original condition, and so, strictly speaking, does not fit the criteria for preservation that is used by national museums.

These railcars were built for service on the newly electrified (in 1927) line from Bern Bumpliz Nord to Neuenburg (Neuchatel) of the eponymous BN Railway.