Trainspotting – Entry for The Friendlymoose Photocontest – "TRANSPORTATION"

This week's topic immediately made me think of the old paddle steamers that still get maintained and used in my town. But now I've already seen some ships or boats in the contest, so we need some variety.

The solution is another piece of transport equipment from the steamship era, steam locomotives! But don't worry, the ships will still get their turn.

So this is my entry for The Friendlymoose Photocontest #FPC with this weeks topic "TRANSPORTATION". (Go, join it!) Steam power is the mother and father of today's mobility, beyond human power. And this is what it looks like.

The sight has become really rare, but every now and then these old and well-maintained treasures are used for special trips. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about it to be able to tell you exactly which model from which year it is. But you can see ‘Deutsche Reichsbahn’ and a serial number, so the experts among you will know for sure.

The pictures were taken three years ago at Gößnitz railway station in Thuringia, Germany. I was waiting for a train to arrive as a special train got ready to depart on the side track. It takes time for such a vehicle to be ready to run, so I had plenty of opportunity to take some pictures.

The carriages are also somewhat older, but much younger than the locomotive. I can remember visiting Hungary with it as a child.

And then it starts, the boiler is under steam, which is let out with a loud roar from every possible opening in the engine. It hisses and stomps and the train slowly starts to move at an incredible volume. Having experienced this from 5 metres away, I'm not surprised that people thought they were going to get brain damage when they saw and used the first steam trains.

Black and white smoke, do we have a pope? Sorry.

The noise on the departure is truly deafening and illustrates once again the enormous power that hot water can develop. It's nice to have experienced this again, but it's also good that we are slowly switching to more environmentally friendly forms of transport.

I'm glad you've read this far and hope you enjoyed this little excursion into the history.