Special PIKO Locomotive

As some will know (Super for example) I like to find the unusual and rare items out there.  Well it seems this time I've made a real score.  The other day I found a listing for a Piko HO Electric Locomotive listed as a 'Display Model' on eBay but few other details, just this one picture. 



Anyway I contacted the seller to ask what scale it was and if it was a functional model or just a static display one.  His response was he wasn't sure if it was motorised but thought it might be and that it was HO scale.  Anyway I decided to take a punt and buy it as I got it offered to me for the princely sum of £20 delivered.

Anyway it arrived today and it is a beauty and it appears a special presentation piece used internally within Siemens based on the labeling on the package (thick acrylic casing held together solidly with screws btw);









As you can see it is indeed a full HO model and having inspected the model from below I can see that the bogies are at least geared so it looks like it is a fully functional HO model of a Siemens locomotive;





As you can see also in the shot of what I think is the front bogie (it is double ended so strictly speaking it doesn't have a front like many European modern diesel/electric locos) there is a sticker on the bottom of the bogie as well.  After careful study and judicious use of a torch I read the number; 599710100189 it is normal for European models to carry these with the model number on it.

Anyway after a search around google I found there was indeed a Piko 59971 model released in 2014 which matches the time frame and design for this model I now have.  But here's the rub, the one commercially available was NOT in the grey livery mine is, instead it was in the following livery;



It was also quite an expensive model back in the day as can be seen by this listing on a European model store;



So it would appear that the model I've obtained is perhaps a very rare piece indeed and possibly made with the grey livery specially for Siemens who make the real locomotive it is modeled on.  It may be that Siemens asked Piko to make some as part of some licensing deal for use as an internal promo or something, who can tell as I can't find any reference to it online in the form I have it.

As such even though I would speculate it is a fully functional locomotive as it looks as though it probably is I am inclined to keep it sealed in its special display case as a collectible instead.

What do you guys think?

[Super]

Beautiful...Love the details and the red lines on the roof really pop. At first look I thought this was a train that might run in a 'Tube' since the display case is round which I find to be awesomely unique. Any others seen round, clear display cases like this?

We can also see inside the cab which is cool. When I think of Siemens I think of the color gray because they make  electrical panels for homes and businesses which are always gray here in the US.

Great bit of detective research Mr Nigels

Beautiful...Love the details and the red lines on the roof really pop. At first look I thought this was a train that might run in a 'Tube' since the display case is round which I find to be awesomely unique. Any others seen round, clear display cases like this?

We can also see inside the cab which is cool. When I think of Siemens I think of the color gray because they make  electrical panels for homes and businesses which are always gray here in the US.

Great bit of detective research Mr Nigels

It really does seem like a stunningly good collectible that is for sure, I found a wiki for the Siemens electric/diesel loco's and it lists probably 50+ from all the usual suspect manufacturers like Pico, Fleischmann, Roco as well as some I've never heard of which sound like special production runs and even they don't have this one listed so it does seem as though it is something to be cherished so I will keep it in its 'tube' for now.  But I don't think I'm likely to see another example of this loco in the grey livery unless another of these collectible versions comes up for sale in the future