Our eldest daughter lives in Germany, half
her luck, and as it was her birthday yesterday she went out into the beautiful
countryside for some walking and a picnic with friends. The reason I mention this here is that while
visiting her last year we also had the opportunity of visiting the same
area. Our reason was somewhat different,
albeit predictable- trains!! Still very
much alive and operating here in this remote corner of the former Eastern
Germany is the Zittauer Schmalspurbahn (Zittau narrow gauge railway). So I thought I would take the opportunity to
post some information about this wonderful line on my blog.
We bought unlimited day tickets, and as the
line forms a Y shape we were able to spend most of the day on trains! Ok, we had a nice lunch in a village,
too. Although it is a preserved railway,
the impression is much more that it is simply a working passenger railway that
has survived continuously. There is
nothing put-on or artificial about this line, it is a useful passenger service
that just happens to be steam operated!
The locos are very large, powerful, 2-10-2s
of characteristic German design, running on 750mm gauge track, if my memory serves me correctly. It is mostly uphill outbound as the lines
climb to two different villages in the mountains near the border with Poland
and the Czech Republic, and the locos work hard. Music to the ears of a steam-buff!! There are quite a few comparisons that one
could draw with Australia’s own Puffing Billy, however I was amazed that the
German whistles were incredibly similar, if not the same, as the whistles on
our Na class, and that same haunting echo as the sound reverberates through the
hills. I can ‘hear’ it now as I write
this, thousands of miles away!!
A real thrill for me was on the last trip,
returning to Zittau. No, not a cab ride,
but the next best thing!! Of course
being a tank loco the return trip is made in reverse, and the carriage coupled
next to the loco was one with end platforms………. Are you seeing where this is
leading?? Yes, I made the return journey
on the end platform right next to the smokebox and chimney, and even though it
is mostly downhill (the loco not working hard) there were sections where the
regulator was well open and the resulting sound was, shall we say, most
satisfying!! I did this many years ago on Puffing Billy too, on the end
platform of an ex Mount Lyle carriage, and filmed most of it on video
tape. When the loco whistled LOUDLY it
destabilized the picture being filmed, goodness knows how, but there is
incredible sound energy in a loco whistle!!
Fantastic memories all round!!
Any of the small steam railways still
operating in Germany are well worth visiting if you ever get the chance, and
the Zittau line is sensational!! And there are LOTS of other train-oriented activities in this beautiful region.
