Scans of my German Railway life

20667 Views 85 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Julian2011, Nov 24, 2021

Greyvoices

Discussion Starter · Jul 2, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

This lockdown malarkey has caused so many problems for families trying to make ends meet but for someone like me, now 70, the only change is not being able to go down the pub and not having to leave my house to attend meetings (goodness how i have come to detest Zoom). I know how lucky I am especially when I read how many poor souls have lost their lives.

You know where I am going with this because you've read the title of this post. I am spending some of this enforced time at home scanning my slides and negatives, something I have been threatening to do for years. I have already posted two or three scans on other topics but i thought that it would be nice to upload the odd photo in one place as I progress through my back catalogue ..... as it were. No chronological order because as I unearth yet another slide magazine from boxes stored in the garage I am putting a selection through the scanner so it's a bit pot luck.

I will start with this:

Stuttgart Hbf - 02/08/1986 at 07:21 110 184-9 hauling empty stock into the station.

It was early on a Saturday morning and we had arrived on the overnight train from Ostende. We (being my wife and daughter plus me) lived in Cambridge at that time and had travelled down to London Victoria to catch the midday boat train connecting with the Dover - Ostende ferry service. Dover marine station was still in use and it was a short walk from the train onto the boat (or should that be ship). I was enjoying my early morning photographic opportunity as we waited for the 08:11 departure for Tubingen where we would spend a fortnight with my wife's parents.

For the technically minded the camera I was using at that time was a Contax 159MM and in this instance the film was AgfaChrome 100. As can be seen with the photo of 110 184-9 I had set the hyperfocal distance about 20' behind the front of the loco so the number is a bit blurred. Zeiss lenses were good but in use they were only as good as the idiot holding the camera.

The scanner is an Epson V600 using Epson scanning software and I'm adjusting the images where necessary with the basic image editing tools that come with Windows 10. Perhaps I could get a better result with more advanced software but to be honest, I'm not really a very advanced sort of chap so this will have to do.

So .......... onwards and upwards.

Best regards ................ Greyvoices (alias John)

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Bear 1923

· #9 · Jul 5, 2020

I'm also very interested

More in the UK material, especially anything signalling strangely enough. Keeping years in order doesn't matter but dating (as close as practical) really helps.
I am also interested in the European scene - because I've hardly been there.

Thanks for your efforts.

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Bear 1923

· #27 · Jul 26, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

faded and even a bit out of focus doesn't matter at all when it is historical evidence.

It would be great if you could explain the signals a bit... like the stripy thing in the latest shot... Would I be right in thinking it's a position light ground/shunt signal?

One thing that occurs to me as interesting - is that what I take to be the "Signalbox"/tower has a clock on it - which our signalboxes didn't do... Which goes with the fact that our footplate crew didn't carry company watches. In fact they resisted their introduction (ASLEF initially refused the Timex watches IIRC). The argument was that the guards were in charge of trains and they had company pocket watches.
Then my brain trundles on and thinks... "so how did light engine crews know when to set off - e.g. to collect an ECS... ?

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Bear 1923

· #35 · Jul 31, 2020 (Edited by Moderator)

Thanks for the reply and interpretation John.

A few more interesting signals since then

Back to clocks...

I have not seen many clocks in UK yards/depots. Even Manchester Longsight didn't have one back in 2009... Although it did have an indicator of speed between the down side sheds and the neck.

As for clocks in boxes... Yes - every box had its clock. However - the normal practice around the country was to clear signals when the route was available and this did not signify the time to go. In a few locations there would be a specific instruction for the signal to only be cleared at the departure time. This was unusual. On the other hand there were locations at which it was operationally wise to not clear a route until close, or very close, to time - because setting a particular route could lock up other routes. Also - Footplate crew didn't move on "signalman's instruction" or even guards instruction. They moved when ready and safe to do so. This was an (unwritten) unalterable rule - correction - law. Footplate crew wouldn't delay unnecessarily - they were subject to sanction if they hadn't got good reason for delay - but their decisions were what the whole railway worked around.

PS Thinking about it - I have known a manager knocked unconscious for trying to order a Driver to move his train. The move would have broken very serious rules. Naturally no-one saw it... and when the manager came round he scurried away without a further word. Even that idiot realised that he would only walk into more trouble if he tried to do anything about it. Sometimes practical action is the best.

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