The English Wikipedia article explains the name Eurofima and lists how many coaches went to which participating country. It does not mention the SBB Bcm, which was a Eurofima coach, but was separately ordered from the main order. The Eurofima VSE (Voiture Standard Europeene or European Standard Coach) was developed by a consortium and met the newly established criteria for the UIC Type Z coach for International Train Traffic.
According to the UIC Z classification, the coach was designed to have 9 compartments in first class coaches and 11 in second class coaches. Prior to that, the UIC-X norm had ten compartments in 1st class and 12 in 2nd class. The UIC-Z norm also called for built-in airconditioning for the coaches, flush to body sliding doors, to name a few of the major differences vis a vis the earlier designs.
The coaches were inspired by elements from the Linke Hoffman Busch aluminum coaches for the DB, the 1972 delivery of Bm RIC coaches to the SBB, and the Simmering Graz Pauker UIC-X coaches delivered to the OBB in 1972. The Eurofima designed combined elements from these three designs in what was supposed to set a standard for future rail coaches in Europe. The LHB-SGP consortium initially delivered a series of combined 1st and 2nd class coaches to the SNCF, FS and DB. The main series of 1st class coaches (SNCF & SNCB A9, DB Avmz207, SBB Am, FS Az, OBB Amoz) went into delivery in 1976, with the second class (SNCB B11, FS Bz, OBB Bmoz) shortly thereafter.
The Eurofima program faced problems right from the start. The NS declined to participate in the venture, so the NS very soon found itself with no modern coaches for international traffic. They ended up using IC-R rolling stock on routes into Germany and Belgium, but NS coaches were no longer seen in Switzerland, Austria and Italy as they were in the 60s and 70s. The DB followed up on the initial order with a separate order for similar designed 2nd class coaches with open seating (Bpmz), the French went ahead with their own program for VSU and VTU coaches for the Corail program. Thus, the whole concept of the European Standard Coach went out the window. The SBB did order 20 B11 coaches with modifications to be operated as couchette coaches (Bcm) as did the SNCB. The Austrians augmented their fleet with similar coaches, many without airconditioning, which led to the division of the UIC class into UIC-Z1 (airco) and UIC-Z2 (no airco). They also ordered additional coaches from SGP, which were delivered without the sliding doors. The FS ordered a number of second class coaches in the late 1980s and then additional 1st class coaches based on the same design. The DB introduced new designs also based on the UIC-Z design, including the Bvmz185, Apmz123 and other variations of the Bpmz291 and Avmz207, In 1993, the SBB received delivery of the first batches of the new SBB EC coaches, also based on the same standard.
The Eurofima idea of a standard coach never went beyond the initial production. The assorted coaches of the various railways killed the idea of a standard coach for prestige international trains.
The Eurofima agency also financed some freight car productions, but never a second series of passenger coaches.
The liveries were as follows:
DB Avmz207: Red/Beige with black skirt, later with red skirt. Have since been repainted in Red/Pink/White, Red/White and later ICE colors. Some coaches reclassified to other numbers (1st or 2nd class)
OBB Amoz/Bmoz: Orange with white stripe. Later Traffic Red and Black and then red/gray/white
FS Az/Bz: Orange with white stripe. Later Bigrigio and XMPR (Green/Blue/White)
SBB Am: Orange with white stripe. Repainted into Gray/Black/White with red doors
SBB Bcm: Blue with white stripe. Repainted into Blue/Black
SNCF A9: White/Black with Orange Doors (Corail) or Orange with white stripe (Benelux - to match SNCB coaches). Later repainted in Corail plus livery. Some coaches reclassified as B9
SNCB A9/B11: Orange with white stripe. Later Memling White/Blue variations
Here is a link to the German Wikipedia page for Eurofima coaches:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurofima-WagenHere is a link to the Eurofima organization:
http://www.eurofima.org/Maerklin has yet to make models of the FS Eurofima coaches in the original orange livery. I have been waiting years for these. This was one of the reasons why I switched to 1/87 (Roco) coaches in the 1980s.
I have since bought the 41893, 41895 and 41896 Sets, but still would love to see the orange ones in 1/100 to go with my SBB and DB ones.
Maerklin has based most of it's modern models on the Eurofima and DB Bpmz291/Apmz123 models. This includes the OBB, FS and SBB open seating coaches, none of which were prototypical. It would be nice to see Maerklin make new models of some of the post-Eurofima series.
Maerkln did make B11 coaches of the SNCF, which never existed. The SNCF has it's own 2nd class coaches from the Corail series and has now declassified some A9 as 2nd class. A large number of the SNCF VSE were sold to North Africa (Morocco and Tunisia?)
Regards
Mike C
