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Germany
Under steam

There is a lot of heat on Germany’s branch lines – and everything seems like it used to, when boys wanted to be train drivers. A train fan followed one of the last of the hissing monsters.

Nicolas Streblow

12/29/1997

Locomotive 50 2988 is hissing in the Blumberg-Zollhaus station. A shrill whistle rings out over the heights of the south-eastern Black Forest near the Swiss border and scares me out of my thoughts. The barrier at the level crossing next to the train station descends with a ringing and rattling noise. The Harley Springer Softail shakes to itself, but it has little to say against the large steam locomotive. Wrapped in clouds of steam, you can hardly see anything from her, let alone hear it. There is almost sixty years of age difference between the two iron legends, and yet they seem to come from the same generation. Heavy metal from Milwaukee next to scrap metal from Germany – both arouse emotions in young and old and leave no one indifferent even while standing. There are countless onlookers around the station. And the train itself is well manned, a rather rare sight on modern railways. But nobody wants to travel here, everyone just came to look – or to enjoy: Nowadays, nobody buys a ticket for the 25 kilometers to the Weizen terminus because they absolutely want or have to go there. It’s all about riding the steam train. And for me it’s about driving behind, or ahead, alongside and through. Always around the train, so to speak. I was promised that it would work perfectly on this winding mountain route. The city of Blumberg’s leaflet about “their” museum railroad is extremely helpful when following the train, as it contains a topographical map with all routes. Looking at the adventurous route, it quickly becomes clear to me why the route built by the military as a “strategic bypass” a good hundred years ago is called the Sauschwanzlebahn. Truly like the tail of a bristle animal, the track curls around and through the mountains. Not far from Blumberg station, the train disappears into the Buchberg tunnel. For the time being, I take Landesstrabe 214 to get to Epfenhofen, where after a while the route can be seen particularly well – the train practically goes around the viewer, and above all over him: the high steel construction of the Epfenhofen viaduct leaves almost nothing Look at the train from below, 264 meters long. Neither the old 50 2988 before its Saturday train nor the Harley have to work particularly hard on their way to the Stuhlingen-Weizen train station. It goes steadily downhill, we drive a little bit side by side. Steam horse and steel horse warble their song in the clear autumn day. I don’t want to trade with someone for anything in the world now. Although, yes, maybe with the driver. So all those involved roll slowly and comparatively unspectacularly down to the valley. In between I let the jumpers run properly, the curves in the valley in front of Grimmelshofen are beautiful, the train drives above and cannot be seen at the moment. But I can take my time to meet him again at the Blumegg-Weiler train station. After all, the train is much further than my fat Vzwo. After the Stockhalde Kreiskehrtunnel, the old train comes out of the mountain – figuratively speaking – practically under its own end, then continues its journey again within sight of me and only reaches Blumegg after one further serpentine 1200 meters long hidden in the mountain. Just like a pig tail. It almost seems as if a model railroad fan who went wild and had a lack of space tried to fit as much of the route as possible on the smallest possible plate. Successful, as it should be noted with appreciation. And the best part: this one is real. 25 kilometers of track overcome a height difference of 231 meters over 9.6 kilometers as the crow flies, and you have reached the Weizen station. In contrast to the other stations on the route, it lacks any romance, but the most important things at the moment are here: switches and a parallel track to move the locomotive to the other end of the train for the return journey. Because until now the 50 2988 was driving backwards, with the tender in front. Now she can finally pull the train forward, which is at least aesthetically much more majestic and is therefore much more popular with fans for the photos. ”Unfortunately, there is no turntable at the Futzen depot, where the locomotive is stationed together with the other three steam engines «, Valentin Stockle from Eurovapor, the operating company of the museum railway, told me this morning in the engine shed. »Originally, so-called tender locomotives ran on such branch lines, in which the direction of travel is at least not operationally irrelevant. The front of the tender was provided with a protective wall so that the wind in the driver’s cab doesn’t mercilessly blow the hats off the heads of the men in the driver’s cab. Hot from the front, cold from behind, shaken by wind and weather, by night and fog, with a soot-blackened face on the way to the timetable. But fascinating, at least, in memory. If you want to and don’t have to as a leisure train driver, that comes closer to your dream. Passengers get on and off, many drive back uphill with them. With the Harley, I can almost always secure the optimal parking space without worrying about parking. The spectacle is only really getting started now. The stoker throws a few extra shovels of coal into the fire hole, 350 tons want to be lifted up the mountain again. At each of the good points of view that I scouted out earlier, I would now like to see the train steaming uphill. The Harley pounds powerfully uphill, conquering the inclines in the southern Black Forest much more effortlessly than the steam locomotive. Now the train has to come out of the tunnel. But first a cloud of steam pushes out of the mountain, gushes majestically from the portal, completely enveloping the locomotive. The loud pounding of the cauldron echoes with multiple echoes from the wooded slopes, the pigtail train puffs through its homemade foggy soup. It can now be heard and seen from afar. The chase will be easy, just follow the clouds. I have to wait a little longer on the district road to Achdorf, which runs parallel to the railway line for a while. I skipped the Futzen station, where the train is probably parked at the moment. This morning, long before the start of operations, I was in the local railway depot and had fulfilled a long-cherished dream: standing in the driver’s cab for the mighty 50s when it is under steam. The men from Eurovapor are real enthusiasts and understand such requests. All of them are well-known mansions, who are still as happy as children when the locomotive, which has been heated up during the night, is ready to go, hissing and vibrating. Their four locomotives and one railcar are on the road so many days a year, I learn from them that the delightful route will be preserved the city of Blumberg was almost secured by the income of the passengers. On most of the other routes on which museum railways operate, however, there is significantly less operation. Nonetheless, if you want to breathe right next to the train, with the train always in view, the Achertalbahn, the Kanderle – the museum railway line between Kandern and Weil am Rhein – or the many routes of the Zollernalbbahn – our train has made it , You have reached the Blumberg Customs House. Now the two-wheeled steel horse should take a break. Enough is seen from the outside. I get in and swap the motorcycle seat for a viewpoint by the window. Departure is soon. Sauschwanzlebahn, the second. With a thunderous stroke of the piston, 50 2988 starts moving.

Info

Anyone who is one of those who set up the model railroad at Christmas time and who has now gotten in the mood for the big railroad should plan the museum railways as their next tour destination.

Arrival: If you want to get to the steamy colossus described in the story as quickly as possible, drive from Stuttgart on the A 81 in the direction of Singen to the Geisingen exit. Blumberg-Zollhaus is then signposted. The numerous winding routes through the Black Forest to Blumberg are of course much more attractive. With the corresponding map (see below) wonderful tours can be put together from here along the routes of the other museum railways. Travel time: Most museum railways only run on weekends during the main season, which lasts from April to October. During the summer holidays, individual journeys on the old trains may be fully booked. Autumn is a particularly attractive time to travel to the Black Forest. Accommodation: For a visit to the Wutachtalbahn, the Hotel Zollhaus in Blumberg-Zollhaus near the train station is ideal, phone 07702/2530. At the other end of the route in Stuhlingen-Weizen you will find the Hotel Restaurant Sonne directly at the Weizen stop, phone 07744/92110. Otherwise there is no shortage of hotels and guest houses in the well-visited Black Forest. Further information is available from the Tourist Association of the Black Forest eV, Bertoldstrabe 45, 79098 Freiburg, phone 0761/131718, fax 36021. Literature: The Callwey-Verlag has the right book for travelers on the trail of the steam locomotive: “The Railway Travel Dictionary” by Klaus Freymann offers comprehensive information including telephone numbers for over 180 museum railways, museums or collections throughout Germany and neighboring countries, plus numerous photos and an overview map, 49.80 marks. The route of the museum railways is shown on the regional map of the ADAC von Mairs on a scale of 1: 150,000. This makes it easy to plan a route that runs as close as possible along the railway lines. Information: A corresponding information leaflet with all the routes and days of operation of the museum railways in Baden-Wurttemberg is available from the Baden-Wurttemberg State Foreign Traffic Office, Esslingerstrabe 8, 70182 Stuttgart, phone 0711 / 238580. Information about steam locomotive special trains of the Deutsche Bundesbahn with DB’s own locomotives and trains in eleven regions throughout Germany is available in travel agencies with a DB ticket license, at the ticket offices in train stations and on 0180/5213434.

Museum railways

In Baden-Wurtemberg alone there are 18 museum railways, most of them run by private associations. Several years before the last steam locomotives were finally decommissioned in October 1977, steam locomotive enthusiasts had started to organize themselves in order to keep at least some of the smoking monsters operational – and of course also to run their gems. However, since the “steam ban” on the DB routes, which was imposed at the same time as the official decommissioning 20 years ago, operation has only been possible on private routes. As a rule, between May and October the club members heat up their old treasures and steam in front of mostly equally historic wagons through the area. The hobby railroaders share their passion with paying fans in order to get at least part of the immense maintenance costs back. There are special photo stops along the way, where not the landscape but rather the train is photographed. The Wutach Valley Railway is particularly busy. In order to cope with around 120,000 passengers per year, four steam locomotives are waiting to be used in the Futzen locomotive shed. The main work is done by the tender locomotives 86 333 and 93 1378. The tender machine 50 2988 mentioned in the text is the thickest of them all and is used when there are more than nine cars to be pulled. Locomotive 93 1360 is currently dismantled and is currently getting a new boiler – it will not be able to steam again until the next season.

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