Germany

Approaching Steinerne-Renne station on the outskirts of Wernigerode on the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen Class 99 7243-1 leans to the very sharply curving track.

This time from the train, we are approaching Steinerne-Renne station on the outskirts of Wernigerode on the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen. Class 99 2-10-2T 236 takes the steep curve with our train to the Brocken.

German Railways Bingen steam shed. A Deutsche Bundesbahn Class 52 2-10-0 Kriegslok simmers with several other locomotives around the turntable of this modern semicircular shed in the summer heat. Although I knew that steam was still in service in this area I saw the smoke drifting across by chance alongside the road while hitch-hiking along the western side of the Rhein Valley. The eastern slopes of the valley can be seen in the background.

This is not just a shot of random railings in Alexanderplatz, Berlin but my "other" railway photograph taken in Germany in 1972 - I only took two in the three months I was there! Times have changed... My railway interest was at a low ebb & I couldn't even be bothered to walk over to the station to get a decent shot of the Pacifics still steam-hauling trains in the eastern zone although I probably thought I might get arrested if I did. I contented myself with a snatched shot of a train arriving. Lots of interesting cars in the parking though! HFF and keep safe in this second wave of Covid.

Harzer Schmalspurbahnen. A visit to Wernigerode shed in the late evening after dinner and amongst the stabled & simmering 2-10-2T tanks used on the Brocken and Nordhausen services I found Mallet 0-4-4-0T 99 5902 (Arnold Jung, 1898) also in steam. HFF & have a GWE to everyone.

In 1982 the Eschweiler Bergwerks Verein (EBV) Alsdorf coke ovens and Grube-Anna mine (off right) north of Aachen were a hive of activity as was the DB main line in the foreground. The green-liveried steam engine is almost certainly Anna no 14 (later renumbered to Anna no 6) built by Krupp in 1940 for Dynamit Nobel. It has been preserved at the Westfälisches Industriemuseum in Dortmund. Unbelievably, gone today are the DB exchange sidings, the coke ovens and all the industrial plant of EBV Grube Anna. The mine closed in 1983 and the coking plant in 1987. The main line survives as does the signal box just seen top left.

Frankenstein Railway Station, Pfalz. Scary or what?

A DB electric loco pulls 5 double-deck Regional coaches southwards across the famous Rendsburg High railway bridge & viaduct high over the Kiel Canal. It is known more descriptively as the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal in German & was opened in 1913. In order to allow the railway line to pass above the canal, the bridge has a clearance of 42 metres over the canal's mean water level. The required maximum incline of 1:150 (one metre gain in altitude per 150 metres distance) made it necessary to build elevated embankments and access bridges of about 5.5 km at each side. To serve Rendsburg station, situated at ground level only a couple of hundred metres from the main bridge, the railway line is routed through a large 360-degree loop on the north bank of the canal My father crossed over this bridge and loop in 1945 while returning on RAF leave from Copenhagen by train and it made a very big impression on him. On me too when he told me about it hence my detour to grab a few shots. What he didn't tell me and I have since discovered was that it is also a transporter bridge so I missed the chance to cross over on it....... Next time! Even the locals stopped to watch the train!

Among the many interesting exhibits in the Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum in Munich is this beautiful 3.1 litre V8 Gran Turismo. The BMW 507 caused a sensation at its debut in 1955 with its innovative design and light-weight materials and 67 years later it still looks incredibly modern.