Now for one of the highlights of my weekend, a driver's eye view from the cabin of the IC 2045 coming home from Wuppertal on Monday afternoon. The day was hot, and the driver had left the sliding doors open, so I stood and watched the action. Here the train is speeding over a canal bridge, and look, no hands! His windscreen of squashed flies and other detritus needs a bit of a wipe over! I mentioned to the driver, that I didn't think it would be possible to get such an interesting view on the "Swindon to London Paddington Intercity!" It was a very exciting few minutes at high speed, and one of those moments that sends a quiver down your spine. Fascinating! The train had started its journey in Cologne and terminated in Leipzig, a journey across much of Germany.
I was not travelling on one of the very fast ICE (Intercity Express) trains, but bought a cheaper ticket on this similar train, but with stops at Bielefeld, Guetesloe, Minden and Dortmund amongst others. These places I remember so well from "BFBS" British Forces Broadcasting Service during the 1960s, which provided home news and music for servicemen in post war Germany. The names still have a historical feel about them.
At this time the train was 40 minutes late, due to a signal failure near Cologne, but at Hannover station it was due for a 20 minute stop, but restarted after only 5 minutes. I arrived in Braunschweig only 9 minutes late, but it took me another hour to get home to Timmerlah, where I immediately switched on the kettle and caught up on my day's tea drinking. It was the end of a lovely Remscheid weekend with friends, and an interesting train ride home.
No comments:
Post a Comment