Nice shot of the 4-6-2. Those cows look familiar. Was this shot near Lathen or Aschendorf perhaps? Yes, I did have a pre-arranged(Sorta) permit, but wasn't sure of the German writing to be certain it was a go until I got there that morning. I did get 2 other cab rides in Germany without a permit. One was in 1972 where we had a coal burning 2 cylinder pacific. We rode a train from Neunmarkt-Wirsburg to Hof just for the ride and to eat at the big
railroad station restaurant there. We planned on returning on a train that left just about at dusk. Before boarding we walked up the cab and started talking to the young fireman who happened to speak English. The engineer was this big old guy who reminded me later of Bull in "The Train". Anyway we asked for a cab ride to N-M where we were staying. He asked the engineer and in German told the fireman it was okay. Well about this time 2 German Railway police that were standing at the station saw what was happening and a big argument ensued with lots of yelling by the engineer and the police. Finally the engineer won although the police were mighty PO'd with him. The fireman elaborated and told us what was happening, and that the engineer knew his days were number on the Pacific's and he was going retire when steam was finished, so he didn't give a damned what the police said, and wanted to oblige two college kids from the US. The ride was mostly all in darkness. I have about 10 seconds of movies showing my bothers long hair flying as he shoveled some coal in the firebox. it was pitch dark in those engines, as they had no headlights just the 3 marker lights. We arrived at Neunmarkt-Wurzburg and there was a 20 something old British train spotter jotting down the engine number and time or arrival as we climbed down from the cab thanking our hosts. The Brit said..."Bloody Hell man, how did you get a footplate ride....nobody ever gets them on this line".
The other one we got was in 1974 on a class 23 (2-6-2), from Lebach to Saarbrucken. I have a bunch of film-Video of that one in our "German Steam 1974" which we released in 2019. We ran into a German fan in Lebach who asked the crew for us in German. We both shoveled some coal into 23-075!!! Good times with the regular service operations.
Okay another click for Olaf!
Greg
