Re: German Express 4-6-2 in regular service 1975

I'm really enjoying these pictures of German steam. Thank you Greg and Olaf for sharing them.

I believe the vegetation on the locomotive in Olaf's last two pictures of the Preßnitztalbahn narrow gauge are birch branches used as decoration for the feast of Corpus Christi. This Christian holiday occurs toward the end of May, at the opposite end of the calendar from Christmas, when of course the traditional decoration is evergreen spruce and pine. The custom was explained to me by some friends in Bavaria (which is famously Catholic), but it appears to have held in Saxony as well.

-Philip Marshall