We’re currently visiting two of our
daughters in Europe- one lives in eastern Germany, the other in the UK. This of course is a fantastic opportunity to
explore new areas, including anything to do with trains!!
We flew into Frankfurt in the evening, and enjoyed
a short but pleasant night there. I have
spent a bit of time there over the years, and it was really nice to return to
the familiar surroundings. In the
morning we caught the very efficient Strassenbahn (tram) to the main station-
again it was good to be back here! I used to hang around here
‘trainspotting’!! There must have been
nearly 100 train magazines in the newsagents here- the Germans are really ‘into’
trains!!- and I bought a really interesting reproduction map of the German
railway system as it was in 1914. We caught the ICE train to Dresden, and I’d
been looking forward to this, but it turned out to be a disappointment. We had reserved seats, but in a carriage in
which the air-conditioning didn’t work, and it soon became like a sauna. As the train was fairly full there really
wasn’t anywhere else to go, but I ended up standing in a cooler carriage until
two seats there finally became vacant.
Not what I expected from the Germans at all.
From Dresden a short ride in a modern
railmotor took us to Löbau, where our daughter
picked us up for the short journey to Herrnhut.
Herrnhut, Germany, is right down near where
Germany borders the Czech Republic and Poland.
The town is most famous as the home of the Moravian church, and despite
the fact that their service was of course in German, I really enjoyed it this
morning! Eastern Germany is fascinating
regarding ‘preserved’ railways, as they kept steam long after the rest of the
world and so many have survived into the preserved era. I saw several steam
locomotives yesterday from the window of my train, both in service and plinthed. I’ll be riding a preserved line on Tuesday.
There is an abandoned section of railway
running through Herrnhut, which seemed to have formed an alternate loop route
from the main line further west, and it is still completely intact though
overgrown. Unlike abandoned lines in
Australia all the signals and other railway paraphernalia are still there! I love walking along old railway lines, and
this was one of the best and most enjoyable that I’ve ever done. The line itself was interesting, and ran over
several large stone viaducts, and the views were spectacular.
Tomorrow I’ll be checking out some of the
local train shops, and hope to find some of the uniquely East German items,
such as Zeuke or Berliner TT. Then later
in the day I hope to visit the Tillig factory and Museum nearby. Tillig is the post- reunification incarnation
of Zeuke/ Berliner TT, and I’m hoping to see some of their current production
TT items. TT gauge (1:120 and 12mm gauge)
is still very popular in Germany, although little known elsewhere. I’m looking forward to tomorrow!!
