Saturday 24th February 2018 will see a fairly long-distance main line day tour across the width the former East Germany – from Löbau to Wernigerode and return – in the hands of class 228 diesel-hydraulic loco 228 552 (back carrying its pre-reunification number of 118 552).
The tour will then feature a steam-hauled run up the Brocken mountain on the world-famous Harz metre-gauge railway.
The train is now shown as sold out on the website of the promoter – the Ostsächsische Eisenbahnfreunde – but it may still be worth contacting them if you are interested.
Notably, this loco, as V180 052, along with sisters 048 and 050 were built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn as the dedicated fleet for the GDR governmental train.
Below is a link to a photo showing 052 along with 048 over the inner-German border in Bebra in May 1970, hooking off from that train which was conveying GDR Prime Minister Willi Stoph to Kassel to a landmark meeting with West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, an event that held the world’s attention in the midst of the Cold War. This loco will have doubtless carried out many more equally prestigious jobs in its time.
European Traction 