Herrnhut Germany

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!!