Hearing talk of a steering-less Volkswagen bus brings to mind the original 2017 ID Buzz concept and the autonomous future it heralded. But the steering-less Klv-20 is not from the future, it’s from the past… 70 years ago, to be exact. Transformed into one of the most timelessly stylish rail vehicles in history, the Klv-20 is all original T1 bus above, all train carriage below. It’s a very different way to embark on a Volkswagen Microbus journey.
VW Commercial Vehicles’ Classic department has found a way to bring out old VW one-off vans that seem like pure fantasy but actually exist in the real world. Two years ago, it showed a 1962 Type 2 Splittie that had been converted into a four-axle snow and mud machine called the Half-track Fox. This year, the company went back a few years further and revived and revealed a 1955 Klv-20.
The Klv-20 was developed in 1954 to serve as a work vehicle for Germany's federal railway, the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB). The railway needed compact service vehicles and, to simplify the development process, ordered a Volkswagen Transporter railcar rather than designing a new vehicle from scratch. Two different German manufacturers produced 30 Transporter cars over the following year: Martin Beilhack, based in Rosenheim, and Waggon & Maschinenbau GmbH, based in Donauwörth.
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Each Klv-20 car incorporated a T1 Combi van body, a 28 horsepower Volkswagen industrial engine and a rail chassis and running gear. The hydraulic lift-swivel mechanism enabled the car to be lifted by a single person, rotated 180 degrees and placed back on the rails, so that the car could be returned to its original position without having to drive in reverse.
As you can see from the photos, the T1’s iconic round headlights and taillights have been removed and blacked out. To further comply with railway regulations, two white front lights have been fitted higher up next to the split windshield, with a single round red light added to the rear. We like how the restored model’s metal-plated roundels and body-coloured housings of vehicle number 20-5011 match the T1’s aesthetics.
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The model supplied and displayed by VW Classics was built by Beilhack and operated at DB's Plattling/Bavaria track and signal maintenance depots. Like the Klv-20 Transporter rail vehicle fleet in general, it was in service until the 1970s before being phased out.
According to a sales brochure that Volkswagen included with the vehicle, the T1 car is powered by a four-stroke gasoline boxer engine and a four-speed manual transmission with reverse gear. Power is transmitted to the 550 mm (23 in) steel rail wheels via a pair of lateral oscillating axles with articulated bodies, and stopping power comes from a pedal-activated oil-hydraulic shoe brake system.
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The body is attached to the steel chassis with rubber fittings and houses three upholstered benches for a total of seven seats. The two rear benches can be removed to make room for cargo.
Volkswagen put the Klv-20 back on the rails last spring and took it on a scenic drive through the greenery of Lengenfeld below Stein, a small village in central Germany. Its multiple passes over the 244 m-long (800 ft) Lengenfeld Viaduct create a particularly dramatic effect in photos and videos.
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Volkswagen unveiled the Klv-20 at the International VW Bus Day in June. It's now part of the automaker's classic vehicle collection in Hanover. You can see it take a very unique scenic tour in the one-minute clip below.
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Source: VW Commercial Vehicles