Hi all, Another picture I had long forgotten about. It’s autumn and we are near the sea down by the docks at Emden. A back lit study of West German class 2-10-0 3 cylinder 044 and 2-6-2 023 standing outside around the depot turntable, taken on a damp and very foggy night. The 044. Glistens with damp from the fog on the cold metal parts. The fog would linger well towards the middle of the next day and even all
Lehrte loco depot west of Braunschweig, what a place, it was like a mini Swindon works with its transverser that moved along the shallow pit in front of us. There was another row of engines behind where I am standing, a buffer is partially in view to my right. The piece of machinery that transports the engines is out of sight. I have only come across one other depot in West Germany that was like this and that was at
Here we are on one of the Plan Dampfs organised in Germany where the state railways allows for four days preseved German steam engines to work normal service trains in different areas. In this case Dresden and east of. Here are two pictures taken, the first one of East German Pacific 4-6-2 03-2204 seen here storming into Arnsdorf station in the usual fashion with a last minute brake application working the 11.55 Dresden to Gorlitz train number N5111. The second
The East Germans had some really nice locations for a number of Narrow Gauge railways of which some are still in operation in various parts of the country today. Here we are well south of Karl-Marks-Stadt right by the Czechoslovakian border which runs along side the line for most of the way. It was one hell of a place to get to as we were only allowed to stay overnight in Dresden although there were plenty of hotels at the
A class 50 2-10-0 50-485 is crossing a deep valley at Buch with a west bound freight train from Crailsheim to Heilbronn. If you look carefully the engine is attached to a tender with a guards compartment behind the coal space. These were not universal though. The engine also has a covered front valance below the smoke box down to the buffer beam, these were rare on this class in West Germany. We had come here to see the last
West German 4-6-2 2 cylinder class 001-234 stands alongside the shed at Hof its home depot in the summer evening sunshine after working the 16.34 from Neuenmarkt Wirzberg. This train was often worked by a 2-10-0 class 50. It will work the 19.12 later to Nurnberg. This was the last strong hold for the remaining few of this large class of engines and this one was the last of the class to be built. They worked all the express trains
TK 48-143 a Polish 2-8-2 tank has just arrived at Wolsztyn with the 15.22 from Nowa Sol looking very smart. This was the only one of the class allocated to Wolsztyn and at the time was a great favourite with the train crews at the depot. We were to see more later on allocated to Jarocin. Saturday 23rd March 1991. Regards ledg.
Here is a panoramic view of Saalfeld in East Germany showing the depot yard and turntable on the left and the station in the background. 44-0115, a 3 cylinder 2-10-0 oil burner storms out of the freight yard with a long train for Gera putting up an almighty exhaust in anticipation of the long five mile climb ahead up to Unterwellenborn. The cylinder taps are open to clear any water from them after having stood in the yard. Saalfeld’s 01-0534
Another one of those West German 3 cylinder 4-6-2 pacific oil burners, 012-061. One of Rheine’s long standing allocations. It’s looking a bit worse for ware but still in good mechanical condition as the departure testified as always with these engines but not long to go before it will be finished and replace by diesels. lt’s the last time we would see them at work. Here it is standing at Meppen station with the southbound 07.50 Norddeich to Cologne. It
This is what the Germans did with steam engines with some useful life left in them, they kept on running them, not like the British who wasted money and scrapped them long before their life time was up. This is 1972 four years after we had hurriedly done away with all of our engines. Here is a West German 3 cylinder oil burning Pacific 012-101 still at work on crack expresses storming along doing well over 70mph having climbed the
Yet another trip to East Germany to see the last of steam on the standard gauge around Halberstadt where I had to lay low and dodge the police by the marshalling yards, not a good place to be on your own in East Germany. They had the luxury of a car to find me but made the mistake of having their siren on. Still got some pictures though. Then on to see the narrow gauge at Wernigeroda. Here is a
An East German light Pacific 003-2001 Runs along side the river Saal at Dornburg. This was running with a large number of other preserved engines during a German enthusiasts 4 day plan Damph (steam festival) that a group of us went over to see. They were allowed to work normal timetabled trains in place of German State Railway Diesels, could you imagine that happening in Britain? So here is the 11.49 Camberg to Saalfeld. Up above on the escarpment some
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