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Mainline steam ended in the late 1950's in the US, but in West Germany it lasted until 1977. Considering that until the Cold War ended, we usually had 250,000 to 500,000 troops in Germany, that made for the biggest undocumented steam excursion for Americans. Most of the troops were not railfans, but some were. I noticed that most Stars and Stripes newsstands carried 5 copies of MR each month, usually 1 month behind. Units in Germany were stationed in battalion or brigade-sized kaserns with little in the way of local training facilities beyond a rifle range and some woods to play in. For heavy weapons gunnery, tactical training, REFORGER maneuvers, unit relocations, and deployment to the East German or Czech borders most units moved by rail if they were going 50 miles or more. My unit, C Troop 1/4 Cav 1st Infantry Division did all the above. <br /> In 1972-74 my armored cavalry unit made 15 rail moves in 29 months. The main lines were all electrified, but secondary lines had diesels and about 1000 active steamers, about 3/4's of which were modern 2-10-0's. On my first trip behind a class 050 Decapod, I pulled down the window right after I woke up and discovered what cinders were! I headed for the restroom at the front of the car to wash out my eyes and saw we were coupled right behind the tender. Then I put on my tanker's goggles and continued to railfan. Only about 3 or 4 of my troop trains never had any steam power. On most trips we changed engines several times, and usually I had to sweep off cinders that piled up in the nooks and crannies on my tank. Troop trains consisted of 1 or 2 coaches or sleepers and enough flatcars or convertible gondolas to hold all the armored vehicles. In those days an armored cav troop had 9 M551 Sheridan light tanks, 15 M114 scout tracks, 3 M113 APC's for the grunts, 3 M107 4.2'' mortar tracks, and the all-important recovery vehicle. Each vehicle had to be centered on the car, secured with wooden chock blocks spiked to the wooden deck, and tied down with steel cables tightened by turnbuckles. Then we'd board the sleeper, eat our C-rations, get drunk as a skunk, listen to jams on the portable 8-track player and smoke hash. <br /> Our home station, Panzer Kaserne in Boeblingen, was 17km south of Stuttgart and at the end of the electric line. Expresses would roar thru town behind diesels without slowing down. Locals would change from electric to diesel or steam. The last 3 Prussian 4-6-0's were used on workday commuter jobs and sat idle on weekends. Off duty I rode alot of trains and took quite a few slides rail and otherwise. I wish I had done more. I have action shots of modern 2-6-2's but no roster shots. I have roster shots of 2-6-2T's but no action shots. I never caught the almost extinct 4-6-2's or saw them in steam; only in deadlines. There were other demands on my time: training, border patrols along the Iron Curtain, nuclear alerts, endless guard duty, chasing the local girls, and ordinary tourism. I occasionally got to attend meetings of an all-services model RR club.
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