AKE Eisenbahntouristik

Updated: August 2026 – A train of classic passenger coaches rolls through a station where normally only multiple units call – and it doesn’t stop at all. AKE Eisenbahntouristik stands for exactly this kind of traffic: tourist special trains outside the regular-interval timetable. This page explains how to recognise such trips and why the name on the brochure is rarely the name on the locomotive.

What is AKE Eisenbahntouristik?

AKE Eisenbahntouristik is a German provider in the field of tourist rail travel. The company name says it directly: “Eisenbahntouristik” (rail tourism) stands for travelling by train as an experience – special trips with classic coaching stock, not scheduled services under a transport contract.

That makes the business model fundamentally different from a regional railway. There’s no transport authority ordering services, and no regular-interval timetable. Instead, every trip is created as a product of its own: apply for a path, organise the coaches, contract the traction, sell the seats. Offers, destinations and vehicles therefore change from season to season – there’s no reliable long-term information about them, and this page doesn’t provide any either.

Special train or regular train? How to tell

The last point is often overlooked. A special train isn’t a fixed unit, but a combination: coaches from different fleets, supplemented by a dining or bar car, plus a locomotive provided just for this run. Two trips by the same organiser can therefore look completely different – and the same set of coaches may turn up next month with a completely different provider. In the same market segment, for example, BahnTouristikExpress (BTE) appears as a brand of its own. If you only note the organiser’s name, you lose exactly this information.

It’s also practically helpful to include the rear of the train. On special trips, the last coach often carries a tail lamp or tail board, and that’s where the coach order is easiest to record. At scheduled stops you can walk the train calmly from front to back – an advantage you never have with regular trains passing through.

Why special trains are so rewarding to photograph

Special trips are attractive for observers for several reasons, and all of them are structural – they apply regardless of the individual organiser.

Feature	What follows from it
Running outside the regular-interval timetable	unusual times, often better light than in rush hour
Classic coaching stock	a uniform-looking train instead of multiple-unit monotony
Changing traction	the same set of coaches looks different on every trip
Unusual routes	lines without regular passenger services are used
Slow running at stops	vehicle sides are easy to read and photograph

That’s why, in special train service, you’ll come across locomotives that have long since become rare in regular service – such as classic main-line locomotives like Class 103, the versatile Class 218 on non-electrified sections or, on nostalgia trips, steam locomotives such as Class 01. Which locomotive is at the head of a particular train on a particular day depends on availability.

Another point makes special trips so valuable for documentation: they’re not repeatable. A regional train will run again tomorrow, in the same diagram, with the same vehicle type. A special train exists in this formation once, and afterwards only survives in the records of those who saw it. That’s why filling in details after the event is especially difficult with such trips – if you didn’t note the locomotive number, you often won’t find it anywhere later.

There’s also the question of predictability from the other side: because special trains get paths within ongoing operations, they often wait at passing loops or stop in places where nobody else stops. For observers, these are the best moments – the train is standing, the vehicle sides are readable, and there’s time for a proper shot without leaving the safe distance from the platform edge.

Related worlds: associations, heritage railways, preservation operators

Tourist traffic on the network and heritage railway operations on their own line are related, but not the same thing. Operators such as the BayernBahn, the Angelner Dampfeisenbahn or the Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsgesellschaft Pressnitztalbahn show the range: from the association-run line and the preservation operator to the company that moves historic stock on the regular network.

For observers, the distinction matters in practice. On association premises, the owner’s house rules apply: barriers, paths and instructions from staff are binding, and a museum depot is operational railway land with real danger from shunting movements, despite the visitors. On the public network, on the other hand, the usual rules apply – platform yes, track area no.

Documenting special trips

Because every special trip is a one-off event, a good note is particularly valuable here. It’s often the only evidence that a particular combination of locomotive and coaches ever existed.

For the photographic side, it’s worth looking at the guide How to take good photos of trains; if you specifically collect unusual liveries, you’ll find ideas in the article on advertising locomotives and special liveries.

Common mix-ups

• Organiser equals operator. The name on the brochure is rarely the name on the locomotive.
• Old coaches equal a museum train. Classic stock also runs in commercial passenger trains.
• Special train equals steam train. Most tourist special trips run with diesel or electric locomotives.
• A uniform train equals a single keeper. The coaches in one set can belong to different keepers.
• No timetable entry equals an error. Special trains often don’t appear in standard journey planners at all.

Verdict

AKE Eisenbahntouristik stands for a part of railway operations that escapes any timetable logic – and that’s exactly why it’s so appealing. If you want to document special trains, consistently separate three levels: who sells the trip, who runs the train and who owns the coaches. Only the last two can be read from the vehicle.