Snowstorm in the Steam Locomotive Paradise
Snowstorm in the Steam Locomotive Paradise
The icy engine of the 50 0019-5 I recorded on 15. 02. 1979 in the station Berlin-Lichtenberg.
After the chaotic traffic conditions in northern Europe caused by huge snow masses at the end of 1978, the weather had calmed down at the beginning of 1979 in Hagen on the edge of the Ruhr area. I probably ignored the fact that since February 13, 1979 there had been heavy snowfalls again in the north and east. For the 14th of February a car trip to (steam locomotive) Berlin was planned.
Already on previous photo tours through East Berlin together with my railway friends Martin and Klaus from Hagen we had met an East Berlin railway fan at the station Baumschulenweg. Martin and I had arranged with him for a meeting on February days to follow the steam locomotive and take pictures.
When we wanted to leave on February 14th Martin was sick and I didn't really want to go alone with my old red R4. But taking a mobile phone in your hand and telling East Berlin what was going on wasn't that easy back then. It was already possible to dial through without switching on the operator, but this required some patience with the old dial telephone again and again to dial the same number and not get a connection.
So I drove off alone in dry weather. Behind Hamm the first rain fell, which constantly turned into snow and provided a closed blanket of snow. Then in the direction of the Eilsener mountains on the A2 nothing worked anymore. A few trucks must have crossed in front of us. After about two hours of waiting a police car with blue light came over the waiting lane. I guess it was pure desperation, I got out of the car and followed. Since there were probably more problems at the moment than to clear me up about my misbehaviour, I got away unscathed and left the highway following the police car on a forest road.
Now I had no detailed map material from the environment, navigation aids I knew at that time only from Star Trek, and tried to come after feeling and street signs to the next motorway entrance. This was already closed and so it went on until a meter-high snowdrift blocked this road. Turned quickly and drove back and I was lucky. The snow plough came towards me. Turned again and followed.
It had become late afternoon and the after-work traffic and the snow chaos led to leisurely slow village crossings on the country roads.
It had become dark and had to be probably already so around 8 pm of the day when I came somewhere behind Hanover again on the motorway. Hardly any traffic, deep driving grooves in the snow through which my R 4 almost ran on rails. The only thing I had to prevent was climbing up by counter-steering occasionally. From a coin-operated telephone in a motorway service area I called our neighbours to inform my parents about the current status of the journey. There was no cell phone yet and we didn't even have a landline phone at the time!
At the GDR border control point Marienborn we went on the transit route.
On that day I had the feeling that even the border guards felt sorry for someone who was travelling in such weather with a rickety R 4. This is the stamp from my passport for the transit visa from Marienborn to Drewitz from 14. 09. 1979 at 10 pm (22:00 h):
On the whole transit route to Drewitz I didn't see a single car on my track. Only at one, as usual at that time, winter service turning point a snow plough turned in the middle of the motorway.
It must have been after midnight when I arrived in West Berlin. I had booked a cheap overnight stay in a youth hostel. But the registration time was long over and the doors locked. As a student I lacked the financial basis to check into a hotel and I was also of the opinion that paying for an overnight stay for the rest of the night was no longer worthwhile. But what do you do in the middle of the night in snowy and cold West Berlin?
Once up Bernauer Straße, view from the platform towards Schwedter Straße. On my way back in Bernauer Strasse, I can remember the daylight illumination of the border fortifications at the junction with Gartenstrasse. Afterwards I lay down in the R 4 in an old Bundeswehr sleeping bag to rest. Soon the sensitive sub-zero temperatures also became noticeable inside the car. The night ended early around 5 o'clock and I indulged in the luxury of a breakfast with a hot coffee.
Immediately after opening I registered at the youth hostel:
Then I went to the border point Heinrich-Heine street and there began the well-known procedure:
Hand in your passport, wait, wait, wait, watch the loudspeaker announcement "The numbers 213, 214 and 216 to counter 2", there critical looks from the border officer "Look to the left, clear your right ear"; Passport back with day visa, fee paid, compulsory money exchange completed, again wet hands at customs and then finally the door to another state opens.
The exchange receipt:
For the now beginning photo tour I equipped myself with the tourist ticket for S-Bahn, subway, bus and tram:
On this day some "icy"; pictures were taken. The representative engines here are 50 0019-5 and 03 2243-8 at Berlin-Lichtenberg station:
On which day I met the East Berlin railway fan, I don't remember exactly. I can still remember a very friendly reception in the circle of his family in this winter weather.
But steam was not only used in East Berlin. In the evening of the 16. 02. 1979 I caught the 01 0522-1 in front of the D 1101 from Berlin-Friedrichstr. to Munich East in the station Zoo after buying a platform ticket.
Both pictures were taken without a tripod in the dark and are quite blur-free!