Plandampf is a German word meaning "Scheduled Steam".
Regular trains are pulled by vintage steam locos, both freight and passenger trains.
Here is a video of one of the 2011 events:
watch?feature=playerdetailpage&v=yeYQeTPmG6o
Enjoy!
Fascinating video Sir Madog, thanks so much for posting it!
Just a few questions:
What kind of freight cars were they pulling? I mean the ones with the flat-top/ semi-circular covers. I've never seen anything like them.
Was it necessary to double -head the locomotives? I've read the Type 44 and Type 50 2-10-0's were powerful enough to pull Neuschwanstein Castle off it's foundations. Or was the double-heading just for show?
One last thing: My God, I thought Virginia was humid! Looks like Germany's not too far behind! I can see what you mean when you say "People in Hamburg don't tan, they rust!"
Glad you liked it!
The cars in question are a type of gondola with covers, but I have not seen them before, either.
Double-heading was just for the show, the class 44 was (and still is) a hefty puller - no match for a Big Boy, though.
Too bad that the Plandampf events are now history. Administrative hurdles have been set so high that the folks managing the event finally gave up.
Firelock76 - you mentioned DB class 50.
Here is a short video of her, pulling a typical local freight - like they did in my childhood days.
watch?feature=playerdetailpage&v=wY6fhRMuPQM
Tun your speakers up to enjoy her voice!
Very nice! I'm of German heritage so anything German rail related is of interest to me.
How do your crews get such a clean stack? What are they using for fuel? Any special firing or stoking practices?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul Milenkovic How do your crews get such a clean stack? What are they using for fuel? Any special firing or stoking practices?
AFAIK, the coal they use is anthracite, low on sulfur, which burns pretty clean. Of course, quite a lot depends on the craftsmanship of the fireman - an art which slowly disappears.
Yet another little video, showing 2 Deutsche Reichsbahn class 50 rebuild Decapods pulling a string of cars loaded with vintage military vehicles (ex German National People´s Army).
Again, turn your speakers up a little to enjoy the remarkable voices of those locos!
watch?feature=playerdetailpage&v=AchAsfv632E
All of the large American locomotives I have seen have a valve (not sure of its name) on each cylinder. As I understand it the valve is opened before starting the engine, as Its purpose is to allow any possible condensate a path out of the cylinder. After operating for perhaps 30 seconds it is closed.
These engines appear to operate with those valves at least partially open all of the time. Is there a particular reason for doing that? Or do I misunderstand the whole procedure?
No, you are perfectly right. I think the engineer left the cylinder drain valves open just for the show. Of course, condensate builds up much faster in cold weather, so you need to open the valves at each start. With the drain valves partially open, you´ll lose steam and have to compensate by opening the regulator a little more - hence the sharp bark with a relatively light load.
I think the engineers left the petcocks open to discourage spectators from stnading too close to the track. It was a common practice to open the petcocks to frighten cattle away from the track in this country, I understand.
I did enjoy the video.
Johnny
That's a fascinating video of the train with National Volks Armee vehicles. What I really found interesting was the men on board wearing what looks like NVA uniforms. Are there people doing NVA re-enactments? I guess anything's possible, I read once there's even American Civil War re-enactors in Germany. But the NVA? That seems strange, unless it's "Ostalgie."
Anyway, that locomotive looks great! Too bad there's no "Plandampf" allowed at this time. I guess the current Bundesbahn officials don't have any sense of fun.
Firelock76 That's a fascinating video of the train with National Volks Armee vehicles. What I really found interesting was the men on board wearing what looks like NVA uniforms. Are there people doing NVA re-enactments? I guess anything's possible, I read once there's even American Civil War re-enactors in Germany. But the NVA? That seems strange, unless it's "Ostalgie." Anyway, that locomotive looks great! Too bad there's no "Plandampf" allowed at this time. I guess the current Bundesbahn officials don't have any sense of fun.
I was also surprised to see all this NVA gear and people wearing a uniform which was once the enemy´s. There seems to be a bunch of folks in the eastern part of Germany who just adore the times gone bye ...
Bundesbahn is not existent any longer. Legally, it was transformed into a private corporation, with the stocks exclusively held by our administration. The name is now "Deutsche Bahn". Although Deutsche Bahn officials have no sense of fun, Plandampf could still be possible, but the administrative work to get that off the ground is just enormous. The folks who did that in the past are well into their 70´s now and they just don´t feel strong enough to do that job.
Luckily, there is still a great number of steam powered rail fan special trains around.
Interesting fact is, that the word Plandampf has entered into the French and English language.
If you enter the Plandampf into youtube, you get tons of nice vids!
Winter & Steam!
watch?feature=playerdetailpage&v=qvqAMYxgrgc
2011 steam powered ski trains to Oberhof.
Sir Madog, I see you're scratching your head like I am over those NVA uniforms. Unless they're people who "never had it so good" under the old regime I can't imagine why anyone would be nostalgic over a tyranny.
Love those steam in the snow shots! Like I said on another thread, it's always Christmas when there's snow with a steam engine rolling through it.
Excellent videos, Sir Madog! I was at Trier in April 2010 for the big Plandampf and that was spectacular! I wish I could do it all over again.
Thank you so much for clearing up a something that's been bugging me since May. My wife and I went to Germany last spring and I was able to ride both the Molli and the Harz, the latter was a cab ride from Drei Annen Hohne-Brocken. Couldn't figure out the lack of cinders! The engineer on the Harz was a 30 year man. His fireman was a young fellow. I was very impressed by their proffesionalism. When it was time to put in a fire, the engineer would open and shut the firedoor in time with the fireman's shoveling. Pretty neat trick! I also noticed a small amount of steam issueing from the cylinder cocks at all times. Seems to be by design? I must say I would recomend visiting both operations. The Molli is just plain cool and I have never witnessed so many steam locomotives in operation (6 seen during my short ride!) as I saw on the Harz. Anyway, thanks for posting the videos.
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