[John Edge]

Hi John, All,
I've made it back on here again! No longer as Allegheny1600, just my real name now.
Anyway, it's really good to see your efforts with the slide scanner, very organised with all those notebooks.
I particularly love the images of the 194 Eloks, a favourite of mine however I've only seen one stuffed and mounted as it were.
Cheers,
John.

 

[John Edge]

Hi John, Reddo and All!
Thanks for that wonderful picture of 194 145 - what a lovely sight! I really must like the E94 as I have DB 194 178 (the only blue one!), two DDR 254s and two OBB 1020s and still want more! I need a couple of DB green ones and possibly a pre war one too.
Not greedy, I just like a lot!!
I have quite a strong interest in early electric locos too so your images of the E16 and E18 are very welcome and I must agree about the handsomeness of the OBB 1044, I love them. One of my themes of interest is southern Germany in era IV with such dinosaurs as E52 and E91 still running alongside blue & cream coaching stock and much more modern machines like the BR103, drool, drool.
Cheers,
John.

 

[John Edge]

Hi John,
Another cracking image of the class 194 ellok there, thanks! I liked the east German name for them - eisenschwine (iron pig!?).
As for the more recent Google image, I cannot tell many modern elloks apart, especially from above but I know that BR152s are quite clean on their roofs so why not?
I can say the larger silver coloured loco, centre right of the image, would appear to be a class 66 diesel however! No getting away from them, is there?
Cheers,
John E.

 

[John Edge]

Hi John, All,
Aha! Maschen and Hamburg Harburg, my favourite places for train watching!
I’ve actually only been to Maschen twice and the second time, three or four years ago, we found the road bridge that bisects the yard, is indefinitely closed which is a great shame.
As we walked up the rising curved road from the station, we could see it was fenced off and on close inspection, they really don’t want you getting past, it’s like something from the Cold War!
It’s the largest yard in Europe now and only second in the world behind Bailey yard in Nebraska USA on the Union Pacific.

H.H. (Harburg!) is absolutely fantastic though. A British friend of mine was extolling the virtues of Acton Bridge on the West Coast main line and said he once saw 20 different trains in four hours! I consulted my log and told him that In the same time, I saw 220 different train movements at H.H. My friend thought I was making it up but I wasn’t! I admit, some moves were light locos going back and forth and I counted loco hauled passenger trains too (not multiple units though!).
I can’t wait until it’s possible to go back.
Cheers,
John

 

[John Edge]

Hi John,
What absolutely fascinating reminiscing there, thank you!
I can really appreciate that you had imagination as a youngster, rather like me if I say so myself. Lucky you to have been able to turn your passion into a career, when I was of an age to try and get on the railway in Derby in the early 80s, it was hopeless. It still rankles that a slightly younger colleague or club mate of mine, managed it by getting in trouble with the law.
Anyway, observing progress on Germany’s railways through Flickr and other places, while there may not be many or any 218s on DB now, there’s still plenty running in private hands, as there are with 211, 212, 215, 216 and even 221 and others too.
And, classic electric locomotives, loads!
I’d say that if you ran era VI, you could easily get away with running several locos from eras III and IV amongst all that Traffic red stuff.
Cheers,
John