A German Federal Railways (DB) Class 103 electric locomotive idles at the platform at Hamburg HBF (Hauptbahnhof, or central train station) before departing with an express.

DB introduced the Class 103 in the early 1970s and it quickly became one of the company's most successful designs. They hauled many of the top express services in West Germany before the introduction of Inter City Express (ICE) high speed trains in the 1990s.

Germany's first high speed rail services began operating between Hamburg and Berlin in 1932 when German State Railways (DR, or Deutsche Reichsbahn) inaugurated "Flying Hamburger" diesel railcar services.

The "Flying Hamburger" trainsets pioneered a fleet of diesel trains operating between Germany's principal cities. After World War II, the surviving sets helped form the basis for the recovery of German intercity rail service.

Hamburg HBF is now a stop along Deutsche Bahn's extensive Inter City Express (ICE) high-speed network.

Photographed by Thomas McCann, July, 1976.
Added to the photo archive by Thomas McCann, June 2, 2010.
Railroad: Deutsche Bahn.

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