The ''Saphir'' was an

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes a small number of stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, allowing faster service than local trains that stop at most or all of the stations along ...

operated by the

Deutsche Bundesbahn The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remaine ...

linking the port of

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariake ...

with

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

as part of a link between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and the Ruhr. The name ''Saphir'', German for

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sap ...

, refers to the Belgian gemstone industry.

History

Beginnings

The initial service started in 1954"Stop Press" (service changes taking effect). '' Cook's Continental Timetable'' (May 23–June 17, 1954 edition), p. 8. London: Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd. as post-war successor of the Ostend–Cologne Pullman Express. Its schedule was coordinated with an Ostend–

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

ferry run and a Dover–London train, and overall the schedule that came into effect with the ''Saphir''s introduction "permitt dpassengers leaving London (Victoria) at 10:00 to reach destinations in the Rhine–Ruhr district of Germany some three hours earlier than formerly". The service used a class

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are als ...

. In its early years, the ''Saphir'' was referred to as the ''"Sapphire"'' in English publications, but by 1963 even the English '' Cook's Continental Timetable'' was calling it by its German name, ''Saphir''."Table 15: Saphir". ''Cooks Continental Timetable'' (February 1963 edition), p. 59. London: Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd.

Trans Europ Express

The ''Saphir'' was upgraded to a first-class-only

Trans Europ Express The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network compri ...

(TEE) on 2 June 1957. La Légende des TEE, p. 188. The VT 08 were replaced by DB Class VT 11.5 trainsets as soon as these were available, on 15 July 1957. The timetable was designed to provide a TEE link from Brussels to

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

as well as a connection with the '' TEE Rhein–Main'' in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. After one year of service the ''Saphir''s route itself was altered with Frankfurt instead of Dortmund being the German terminus. In 1966, the route was cut back from Ostend to Brussels, making the ''TEE Saphir''s route Brussels–Frankfurt.

Post-TEE

On 27 May 1979, the ''Saphir'' was downgraded to a two-class

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at ma ...

train,''

Thomas Cook Continental Timetable The ''European Rail Timetable'', more commonly known by its former names, the ''Thomas Cook European Timetable'', the ''Thomas Cook Continental Timetable'' or simply ''Cook's Timetable'', is an international timetable of selected passenger rai ...

'' (May 27 – June 30, 1979 edition), pp. 6, 99. Peterborough, UK: Thomas Cook Publishing. without any change to its route. In June 1980, the eastern terminus was moved back to the Ruhr district, but to

rather than Dortmund.'' Thomas Cook International Timetable'' (March 1–April 5, 1980 edition), pp. 96–97, 581–582. Thomas Cook Publishing. In 1981, the route was re-extended from Brussels to Ostend, making the ''Saphir''s route now Ostend – Brussels – Cologne. On 31 May 1987, with the launch of the new

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

network, the ''Saphir'' was replaced by the '' EC Memling''."Summer services, 1987" (changes taking effect). ''

'' (May 1–30, 1987 edition), p. 51; also pp. 67, 475. Peterborough, UK: Thomas Cook Publishing.

References

Works cited