Railfan from age 5. At 17 befriended the local agent of our small country station on a German Reichsbahn branch line in Silesia and helped her with all jobs, selling tickets, checking baggage, express and freight. Met my later wife there for the first time. In late January 1945 at 18 was the last person to leave the station when the Soviet Army was only a few miles away and all traffic ended. After WW II attended law school and after some time with the judiciary ended up in intelligence service. Retired in 1981. Despite all changes in railroading still a railfan.