A locomotive for the 50th birthday
To mark the 50th anniversary of the elephant, our licensee TRI Train Rental International GmbH has created a locomotive in the anniversary design. It will be travelling on Germany’s railways for two years, primarily in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria. The ‘locomotive with the elephant’ was presented at Cologne Central Station on 8 January 2025.

The idea of TRI Train Rental International together with the WDR mediagroup is reminiscent of a similar campaign from 1996, when Deutsche Bahn also had an appropriately designed locomotive run on the occasion of the 25th birthday of the ‘Mouse’. At that time, DB had chosen a class 110 express locomotive as the ‘locomotive with the mouse’, and the new ‘locomotive with the elephant’ from TRI also belongs to the same class. Today, this is one of the rarities that is often photographed.
The two sides of the locomotive have different designs: One side of the locomotive shows the mouse, elephant and duck travelling, while the other side shows the three stars of the programme celebrating the elephant’s 50th birthday.
The WDR mediagroup is excited about this successful co-operation. Please contact us if you are also interested in working together!