Flying
into Luxembourg we began seeing steam in the Apach to Trier region of
West Germany with mostly 2-10-0's on both freight and passenger trains.
We also spent some time in Lebach shooting some footage on the line to
Saarbrucken. This segment features a rather nice cab ride in 023-075
(2-6-2). These were the most modern engines in Germany, some being built
as late as 1958. Brother Randy was on this trip, so we used film from
both cameras throughout the video including the cab ride. In one scene
Greg is shoveling coal into the firebox for instance. We made 2
different visits to Lauda, and the big attraction here was the dual
departure of two passenger trains normally powered by class 23 2-6-2's.
We dubbed this 7:00 event as the "Racers". We captured this 3-4 times
over the two different visits. It was an incredible thing to witness
with one train going to Wertheim, and the other to Wurzburg and on two
different lines of course. We also saw various other passenger trains
and freights in this region including some doubleheaders.
In between our Lauda
visits we spent a bit of time with trains out of Hartmannshof where
normally a 2-10-0 was used as a pusher to the top of a grade. We see
several trains including a German military train, and a U.S. Military
train. There is also regular freights and a coal train. At the top we
even get the pusher cutting off on the fly in one scene. This is a nice
segment thats different from the other areas.
A good bit of time
was spend on the Rheine-Emden line as we see a lot of those great and
speedy 4-6-2's (class 012) in action. These were 3-cylinder oil-fired
engines that were rated for 72 miles and hour. A few years prior to
this, the speed was 84. We see a lot of ore train action as ore comes
into the docks at Emden and the railroad hauls it to the industrialized
Ruhr valley, south of Rheine. On this line one doesn't chase but rather
pick your spot for a couple of hours and wait for the next train to go
north or south on this double-track mainline. Most all of our footage is
trackside except the aforementioned cab ride in a 2-6-2 from Lebach.
However we finish our coverage while riding behind an 012 pacific on our
final day just hours before heading for the Luxembourg airport. If you
like REAL, regular service steam action, then the variety here will be a
welcome change from the usual U.S. cuisine! Shot on silent Super 8
movie film. Music & Narration.
