German Railways 175 - Easter Spectacle ! 2010

Next year is the 175 anniversary of German Railways.

DB is organising a number of events through the country next year, but this one particularly looks to be worth marking in the calendar

Between the 2nd and 6th April, it is planned to run 100 special and 200 service trains using vintage and historical steam / diesel / electric locomotives... thats 60 vintage operations a day !
There will also be visiting locomotives from other countries appearing, some of which will operate trains (It's already well known there is 1 UK steam locomotive supposed to join next years DB Steam fest)

This mega-planned steam is centered on Trier, Coblenz and Gerolstein, not too far from Luxembourg, and easily "do able" by Eurostar / SNCB / DB train by even the most non-european traveled enthusiast !

The link is below.

www.dampfspektakel.info

http://www.dampfspektakel.info/fileadmi ... kel_en.pdf

 

A "must do" event for me. All that lovely German steam and beer and no blooming fences to worry about. :smt003

 

Hello,

thanks for the link. Apart from my tramway interests I am also a (not very active) member of the group that runs the Koblenz museum on behalf of DB Museum. Now I start to get an idea why I have been asked not to plan anything for Easter 2010 but to be right there. :-D

Kind regards

Christoph

 

I'll be there Thanks for the link !

 

And bang goes 5 days leave from work!

 

It sounds like it's going to be quite a show - some friends of mine have already booked their hotel!

But why wait until next year? There's a 'Plamdampf' next month in The Pfalz area around Kaiserslauten, Neustadt-an-der-Weinstrasse, etc. Locos include 01 066, 23 042, 38 3156 and 50 2740. There will also be heritage diesels and an E94 electric. The Pfalz is easily accessible from the U.K. as it is only just over the French and Luxembourg borders. More details here :

http://www.plandampf.co.uk/#latesta

If anyone has never been to a 'Plandampf', the pictures of the 2005 'Pfalzer Plandampf' on my Fotopic site should give you an idea of what's involved. Hopefully, they will tempt you to try one for yourself :

http://ronfisher.fotopic.net/c851595.html

 

Timetables have started to be listed for this big easter event next year.

Also some of the locomotives are also being listed.

Over the next few weeks look for some surprises to appear in the list.

 

I'd heard that too.
Well, they did build the boiler...

 

http://www.dampfspektakel.info/tickets-und-preise/

There seems to a change in pricing policy compared to previous events. My translation may be wrong but it appears that you can use regional rovers on the true Plandampf trains but the 'special' trains will require event tickets. Does this mean the piglet taxis on the branch services will be cheap and the steam expensive? I do hope not.

I know it is early days but the list of steam engines does need a bit of spicing up. The two pacifics are both generally poor performers so lets also hope for an 01.5 or 18 201 (that has got to be there). Unfortunately no 03 1010 this time. Also I am sure the two 23s, the green 38 and 50 2740 will make their predictable appearances!

They should have Tornado as they designed and built the difficult bit! To add to this only DB drive it in the UK and it is named after a plane which is a European design.....

For those that are interested in the more general German plandampf scene info is now available for the Zeitz area event in Feb. 2,000t coal trains, Cl.65 on local passengers, old DR infrastructure - bring it on! Attached is a straight out of the camera picture of the 65 tank leaving Zeitz in March. Imagine that with two 52.8s straining at every joint and rivet with 2000t train of coal for the local power station. http://www.plandampfteam.de/index.php?site=termine&show=66 for more info.

Hopefully see some of you at both events. Perhaps we can have an NP meet up in a suitable brew pub!

Cheers,

 

I heard the 60163 in Wolsztyn rumour last May, and had been sitting on that for a while as back that it was a "fanciful" rumour or a piggy back of the announcements of a European tour in the national papers last spring.

I guess a very big clue will be revealed tomorrow or wednesday..at least we may know if it's a possibility or not, though according to Steam Railway there was some work related to supporting ERTMS going on recently. It would be nice.

Two other engines listed in the frame as going, are now proved not to be going.

 

ADB968008, overall length of the locomotive has no bearing on whether it will fit onto a turntable or not.

In NSW (Australia), it does not matter that an AD-60 Class Garratt is 108' over th ebufferes when it comes to turning it. The 98'7" wheelbase is the deciding factor. In NSW we have three 105' turntables installed for them and a 100" turntable. The Garratts used them with success and when 6029 is back in operation, those four turntables are still available for use. http://project6029.blogspot.com/

We turn C-38s on a 75' turntable, yet they are longer. The 65' 7" wheelbase would allow a 38, like 3801 or 3830, to use a 70' turntable. http://www.3801.com.au/

The only issue, if the wheel base fits, is that there is enough clearance around teh turntable for the overhang. There is one other point, if the turntable is a single bridge, balanced on its pivot, a long locomotive may not successfully balance. If the turntable is a two piece job, like every turntable in NSW that is longer than 60', then balance is not an issue. The locomotive can stop anywhere on the turntable, as long as all of its wheels are on board, and be turned.

 

Accommodation booked in the brewing town of Bitburg. What a shame.
Now the question is do we fly and put ourselves at the tender mercies of Ryanscare or take the train?
Been following some of the routes on Google Earth. The northern section of the Eifelstrecke does seem to be well treed in.

 

I'm staying in Trier with my dad. Got 6 nights accomodation for €282 for a twin room, so not too bad really. We'll be driving out there too. Only got 4 1/2 months to work out an itinerary!

I may also be going to Breba at the end of April for the event there too. From what I can gather from the website there appears to be around 9 steam tours going there over one weekend, plus around 3 "modern" traction tours too. Looks interesting!

 

Nigel,

Be warned as tempting as Bebra events always look (I nearly went last year) the area is all under the wires, very modern and not good for photos. To put it into to context the nearest non electrified line is Eisenach to Meiningen (the Plandampf fav) which is thirty miles away and likely to be used by one special to Bebra (ex Mein. with the 50). I was stood on Bebra platform a couple of weeks ago and despite a nice water tower and half roundhouse (still used by DB and wired) my views on the place didn't change.

Surprised you and a few others aren't tempted by the Zeitz Plandampf in Feb? 2Kt steam hauled coal trains timed for photography on unmodernised lines must be tempting? It is more than likely be the greatest steam show in the world outside China in 2010 and it can easily be combined with a trip to Saxon ng or the Harz Mountains, both of which are very close.

Still not sure about the big free event ...my wife is still pushing for a trip to see the vineyards and castles by the Rhine but I don't know if I can face the crowds, modern coaches and all the heads out of windows! Decision time soon I suppose...

Cheers,

 

David

I'm actually in the Harz from Monday 8th Feb til Monday 15th! There are 4 days worth of tours while I'm there too. 2 days when Railtrail use one of the Mallets, and the weekend should see 99 6001, 99 6101 and 99 6102 on charters too. Hopefully this year I'll actually get there!

I didn't realise that plandampf was so close to the Harz. I may think about that, especially considering the Harz tours will probably run again in the future.

Cheers for the tip off about the Breba event. I was more thinking about travelling rather than photting that one, either the tour from Lyss with 01 202 or the one from Rotterdam with 01 1075.

I've never really spent any time in Germany so hardly know the place at all. I've only visited the country twice, and one of them was due to a complete cock up where I ended up stuck in Basel (Switzerland) at 10pm with no trains back to Strasbourg (France), and ended up getting a train back to Offenburg (Germany) followed by a €100 taxi back to Strasbourg!