Like *my* good old days
I know many of my US railfan friends find the European railway scene to be weird/boring/uninteresting, but last Sunday reminded me alot of my early years of railfanning. When I first started railfanning in the southeastern US in the late 1990s one really could see anything on the front of the train. Foreign power, fallen flags, leasers, there was always something interesting. Today the mainline scene in the eastern US is hopelessly dull, with nearly every train led by 1 of 5 locomotive types and rarely a break from the drudgery of NS black or CSX dark blue.
In Germany however open access has meant that there is still nice surprises to be had now and then. On this day it seemed that surprises just kept coming. The first two trains at Bacharach featured a 1970s era Class 151 operated by private operator Hectorrail, the second a passenger stock transfer with DB Gebrauchtzug 111 174 in the Touristik scheme.
Then at the edge of high sun, the grand prize, a pair of over 40 year old Br 218s led by the Brohltalbahn's 218-396 screamed through town with the WRS Tonzug. The Brohltalbahn started as a narrow gauge shortline in northern Rheinland-Pfalz but since the advent of open access operates trains around the region with their small fleet of diesels.
Like *my* good old days
I know many of my US railfan friends find the European railway scene to be weird/boring/uninteresting, but last Sunday reminded me alot of my early years of railfanning. When I first started railfanning in the southeastern US in the late 1990s one really could see anything on the front of the train. Foreign power, fallen flags, leasers, there was always something interesting. Today the mainline scene in the eastern US is hopelessly dull, with nearly every train led by 1 of 5 locomotive types and rarely a break from the drudgery of NS black or CSX dark blue.
In Germany however open access has meant that there is still nice surprises to be had now and then. On this day it seemed that surprises just kept coming. The first two trains at Bacharach featured a 1970s era Class 151 operated by private operator Hectorrail, the second a passenger stock transfer with DB Gebrauchtzug 111 174 in the Touristik scheme.
Then at the edge of high sun, the grand prize, a pair of over 40 year old Br 218s led by the Brohltalbahn's 218-396 screamed through town with the WRS Tonzug. The Brohltalbahn started as a narrow gauge shortline in northern Rheinland-Pfalz but since the advent of open access operates trains around the region with their small fleet of diesels.