German Rail Queries

[stuartmoss]

Hi Folks,

Just wondered if anyone could answer the following:

1. Is there a German equivalent to our UK Steam Info website? I'm in Germany next week (Leipzig and Dresden) and am hoping to see a Christmas steam excursion (I saw one last year at the same time).

2. I'm in Köln in January, and wondered which station near the city is best for regular freight?

3. I'm in Berlin in February, and wondered which station near the city is best for regular freight?

Thanks

Stu.

 

[blackfive460]

Hi Folks,

Just wondered if anyone could answer the following:

1. Is there a German equivalent to our UK Steam Info website? I'm in Germany next week (Leipzig and Dresden) and am hoping to see a Christmas steam excursion (I saw one last year at the same time).

Try http://www.lok-report.de/index.html and follow the link to 'Termine'.

 

[stuartmoss]

Thanks I have done so, but don't seem to be able to find much...

 

[Paul Kelly]

Schönefeld Airport station seems reasonably good for freight as far as I can see. It's on the old East Berlin outer ring that was built in the 1950s so that trains from the southern and western parts of East Germany could bypass West Berlin and approach from the east. Not so much passenger traffic on it these days which makes it even better for freight I suppose.

Sometimes you can see interesting freight trains on the north-eastern part of the S-bahn ring (north of a point between Ostkreuz and Frankfurter Allee the overhead electrified lines run alongside the 3rd rail S-bahn lines). There is a (not particularly busy these days) freight depot at Greifswalder Straße and you sometimes see some sort of cement/chemical tank trains running to there. I've also occasionally seen trains of logs and containerised freight running on the "Ostring".

The above two locations would be nearly all electric locomotives; the lines that run along the southern ring around Neukölln aren't electrified though. A couple of times recently I've seen diesel freight trains standing for ages right next to Neukölln station. Lots of old semaphore signals at Tempelhof too if that is interesting (have never seen any freight there though but there must be some as the line is still open and there's a working signalbox).

Somewhere else for occasional interesting sightings: there is a depot for servicing sleeper trains next to Warschauer Straße station, but it can only be accessed by a single non-electrified line that runs north of the S-bahn lines between Ostkreuz and Warschauer Straße (the main overhead electrified lines are to the south of the S-bahn lines). Occasionally you see (and hear) a diesel locomotive bringing the sleeper stock (presumably out to the much larger depot at Rummelsburg) along this single line - always looks very out of place.

(By the way I haven't gone looking for any of this stuff; it's just a few things I've noticed on my travels around Berlin. There is also freight traffic on the northern ring around Westhafen but I'm rarely there so can't really comment.)

 

[timstours]

yes koln west and koln sud are great for freight ,but watch out that trains get in each others way at times .
koln sud is on a tram route and is walkable from barrosaplatz as well .
a bit further awat to the north neuss is good as well.

 

[stuartmoss]

Thanks for the tips, I'll post videos of what I find when I get back in February.