Deutsche Bundesbahn 1970s
1970- Northern Germany
My first visit to Germany was in 1969 when, as a sixth former, I was encouraged by my father to spend ten days touring the railways of northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and northern Germany. As an impoverished 17 year old he paid for most of my tickets and youth hostel fees, but I had no spare cash to buy film so that holiday has no pictorial record. However, it did start my fascination with European, and especially German, railways.
After my tour of the Low Countries this holiday saw me travel from Aachen to Köln, then on to Frankfurt (Main) via Dortmund, Hagen, Siegen and Giessen. Then it was on to Trier via Koblenz and the Mosel valley line. From Trier I headed south to Saarbrücken before leaving Germany and heading home via Luxembourg and Brussels.
There was never any doubt where I would go for my 1970 railway holiday - northern Germany.
The photos from my 1970 visit to Germany were all taken on my Brownie Cresta camera, which had a shutter speed of 1/40th so was not much use for moving trains. I therefore concentrated on photos at stations or at locomotive depots. I had very little money to spare for film and took only 24 images ( 2 films). As it happens this gave me a reasonable balance of locomotive types that I saw and were likely to disappear in the near future.
I started my journey by travelling from Hoek van Holland to Rheine, before going on to Hamburg via Bremen. Then it was south to Hannover followed by a visit to the 'Iron Curtain' border station at Helmstedt. I then headed south to Bebra before staying in Bad Hersfeld. I headed back to Kassel, before travelling through Altenbeken to Paderborn. Then it was off to the Hamm and the Ruhr district and Hagen. I returned home through Wuppertal and Düsseldorf to Venlo and Hoek van Holland.
During both my 1969 and 1970 visits I saw large numbers of steam locomotives at work as well as diesels and electrics.
043.315 heads north through Rheine with an empty iron ore train to Emden on 3rd July 1970. On the right are some BR515 battery emus.
042.358 is running light engine through Rheine station on 3rd July 1970.
042.363 and 042.106 are at Osnabrück Rbf. shed on 3rd July 1970.
A pre-war electric locomotive 104.018 is seen at Osnabrück with a local service to Essen on 3rd July 1970.
052.374 is at Hamburg Wilhelmsburg shed on 5th July 1970 next to electric loco 140.714.
Just arrived at Hamburg Hbf on Sunday 5th July 1970 is 012.074 with a Westerland to Frankfurt (Main) express. The locomotive is being detached from the train before an electric loco takes over.
On 5th July 1970 Deustche Reichsbahn 01.0517 is seen at Hamburg Hbf with a Hamburg Altona to Berlin train
094.086 tows diesel shunter 261.715 out of the shed building at Hamburg Wilhelmsburg on 5th July 1970.
Schienenbusse 795.398 (at rear) and its trailer at Bw Uelzen on 6th July 1970.
053.065 at Uelzen shed on 6th July 1970.
053.065 at Uelzen shed on 6th July 1970.
236.253 shunts a rake of 'Umbauwagen' at Hannover Hbf on 6th July 1970.
Deutsche Reichsbahn 03.2133 of Berlin Ostbahnhof shed has just taken over from a DB locomotive at Helmstedt with a Köln to Berlin train on 7th July 1970. On the right is the United States Army escort vehicle that was used on US Army transit trains to Berlin.
Deutsche Reichsbahn V180.354 from Magdeburg shed has taken over a Hamburg to Leipzig train at Helmstedt on 7th July 1970.
This Deutsche Reichsbahn V200.237 appeared light engine from East Germany and then hauled a train of bogie hoppers, seen behind the locomotive, back across the border. The date is 7th July 1970
001.190 is seen at Braunschweig shed on 7th July 1970.
A former Prussian loco 89.7538 awaits restoration at Braunschweig shed on 7th July1970.
Deutsche Reichsbahn 01.0532 is ready to leave Bebra for East Germany with a Frankfurt (Main) to Stralsund train largely made up os DB 'Silberlinge' suburban coaches. The date is 9th July 1970.
043.440 and 043.469 are seen at Kassel shed on 10th July 1970.
050.912 is at Kassel shed on 10th July 1970.
023.016 (allocated to Bestwig shed) is at Kassel shed on 10th July 1970.
194.195 (allocated to Mannheim shed) is at Kassel shed on 10th July1970.
044.948 is seen at Wanne-Eickel shed on 13th July 1970 together with a BR50 fitted with a Kab tender for the guard.
191.003 and a BR140 are at Oberhausen Osterfeld Sud shed on 13th July 1970.