Contents
• Local services
• Medium services
• Express services

DBSetXL covers a time period of roughly 80 years. During that time, a broad range of different trains with specific characteristics were in use, ranging from simple local trains to luxurious express trains such as Rheingold, TEE or the modern ICE trains. To better differentiate between the different trains and services, I tend to name the trains according to their service category (e.g. "IC") and the line they run on.

Local services

S-Bahn

S-Bahn services are basically suburban railroads focusing on inner-city commuter traffic. Typically, specific rolling stock is used, such as coaches with more doors to facilitate faster passenger exchange at stations. The S-Bahn services can be introduced in the 1950s, when cities have grown to provide enough passengers. However, fitting rolling stock is only introduced by the 1970s. These vehicles come in a unique gray-orange livery. A typical S-Bahn line has many stops in short distance, with the stations being rather small, to fit into the city. Lines are electrified, as electric engines provide best acceleration, and the exhaust fumes from steamers or diesels would not be too favorable with people living near the railways.

Passenger train

Passenger trains (or local trains) are the most basic service for passenger transportation. The run on short routes, be it main lines or branch lines, and stop at every station along the way. Usually, typical basic coaches such as the famous "silverling" are used, after 1997 also long-distance coaches might be found in these trains. Typically, the trains have three to five coaches and a mail car, but depending on the needs one can run longer trains. During the 1990s, mixed liveries were very common, trains with silver, white/mintgreen and red coaches were the norm. By the end of the 1990s this changed as coaches were gradually repainted to the red liveries. The numbers in the column for coaches show how many passenger / mail coaches I typically run in my games, but that totally depends on demand.

* do not buy as new, these vehicles become available when they are replaced in higher level services by new engine types

Medium services

These services are all kinds of trains between the basic local trains and the luxurious express trains. The trains run on main-lines, connecting bigger cities and not stopping at every intermediate station along the way. They can be introduced once the long-distance coaches become available. Typically the coaches are colored in a standard painting scheme (green, ivory/blue, ...). The following trains belong into this category:

*Eilzug: literally "train in a hurry", a fast passenger train. D-Zug stands for "Durchgangs-Zug", a train with coaches that the passenger can go through and change from one coach to the next, while the train is moving. So it actually describes a specific type of coach, but as higher class fast trains were run using these coaches, the name became synonymous for fast trains.

Medium services were phased out starting in 1997 until about 2002 and replaced by either local coaches or premium services. By the mid 2010s one can see that Intercity trains as former premium level service are now slowly being replaced by ICE trains, so the Intercity services seem to become a new medium-level service.

* do not buy as new, these vehicles become available when they are replaced in higher level services by new engine types

** considered a premium service before

Express services

These trains are the most prestigious ones with the fastest engines and the most luxurious coaches, often sporting a specific livery and typically named in certain ways. The trains only stop at the most important hubs and run long distances. In the set, coaches for these services often have a higher capacity. Depending on the length of the trains there might be special dining and observation cars. The Intercity-Express trains (ICE) should run on dedicated high-speed lines to allow them to reach top speed without impeded hampered by slower traffic.

The following rolling stock can be used to model these services while staying true to the real world trains: