The railcar was built at the beginning of 1930 in the Hannover-Leinhausen works of the German Imperial Railway Company ("Deutsche Reichsbahn"). The work was completed by autumn of the same year. The vehicle was long and had just two axles, with a wheelbase of . The height was . As originally built it had two conjoined BMW IV 6-cylinder petrol aircraft engines (later a single BMW VI 12-cylinder of ) driving a four-bladed (later two-bladed), fixed pitch ash propeller. The driveshaft was raised seven-degrees above the horizontal to give the vehicle some downwards thrust. The body of the Schienenzeppelin was streamlined, having some resemblance to the era's popular Zeppelin airships, and it was built of aluminum in aircraft style to reduce weight. The railcar could carry up to 40 passengers; its interior was spartan and designed in Bauhaus-style.