Another visit to East Germany and an early start from our hotel before returning for breakfast. This time oil burning Pacific 01-0517 is setting out from Saalfeld on a real grim and gloomy morning working the 06.58 to Leipzig via Gera. There was also a steam hauled service via Jena to Leipzig worked from Saalfeld. The steam shed is on the left with engines standing in the yard ready for work. The class of engines working these two services kept changing over the years for some reason. There had been allocated to Saalfeld for these trains, original class 01 4-6-2s/03 4-6-2s/41 2-8-2s/ and these rebuilt 01 4-6-2s twice. There was only 9 more years to go before the iron curtain came down on the 9th November 1990. Since then this has all been electrified for the second time would you believe, the first lot was torn down many years before this picture was taken.
I can’t recall ever being bothered by the police when taking photographs on our visits to East Germany, the only sensitive places were at depots and near to the border with West Germany which we steered well clear of. The exception was narrow gauge depots were no one bothered at all if you wandered around.
Tuesday 21st April 1981.

Regards
Ledg.