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This photo essay covers an escorted tour I took in 1995 through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. My photos were lost in a house fire but about 50% of the negatives survived. My brother Ian scanned and cropped the useable film and here they are. The mix is about equal parts real trains, large scale model trains, and scenic images. I hope you enjoy the trip.

My route started with Calgary to Frankfurt by Lufthansa/Air Canada, then by train to Nurnberg where I joined the tour group from the USA. After a sumptuous meal and an overnight in an ancient hotel, we toured the LGB model train factory. There is a very impressive display railway built by Malcolm Furlow. The factory is huge and full of fascinating machinery.

Unlike North America, train watching at the passenger station is a busy pastime most of the day. At Nurnberg and Munich, we watched various classes of passenger trains glide in and out almost silently under their electric overhead wires. These are standard gauge (1435 mm) trains. There is a great Deutches Bahn Railway Museum in Nurnberg, but it was not on our itineraryy. Click here to see a map of the German Railway system.

Next stop was Regensberg by our tour bus to visit the castle and Josef Schmaltz's world renowned garden railway (45 mm gauge representing meter gauge at a scale of 1:22.5). Regensberg is halfway between Nurnberg and Munich (Munchen) on the map at left.

We stayed in Munich a couple of days to see the old city, take part in pre-Octoberfest, and visit the Munich Science Museum. Many fabulous antiques, from trains to automobiles to airplanes to ships, are on display, along with many large scale working models. There is much more to see: art galleries, the old walled city (now shops, boutiques, and restaurants), ancient and modern streetcars on the U-Bahn, and the modern trains on the S-Bahn.

We took a day trip by train to Augsberg and returned to Munich. Outbound was a classy second class through train with a super ride and lots of interior comfort. The return was on a third class local that made every stop. The ride was surprisingly rough when you consider it uses the same track as the 1st and 2nd class trains.

Our last stop in Germany was near the German-Austrian border at Chiemsee to visit the antique railway (meter gauge) and the Palace of King Ludwig II on Chiemsee Island. He had the palace built to mimic Versailles and it is very well preserved. King Ludwig was also known as Mad Ludwig. He may have been crazy but he built a beautiful country "home"! Later that day, we moved on to Salzberg in Austria.

Train Watching in Nurnberg

	DB Local Passenger Train
ICE Intercity Express
More DB Locals
DB Express Passenger Train
LGB Factory and Display Railways
Malcolm Furlow's LGB Display Railway at Nurnberg
More Displays at the LGB Factory
Ships and Castles at Regensberg
Regensberg Scenes
Josef Schmaltz and his Large Scale Garden Railway
The Schmaltz Garden Railway and some of our tour group. Richard Schafer, our tour leader passed away in September 2002 and is sadly missed by the readers of Garden Railways Magazine. You can see more about the Schmaltz railway in the April 1999 issue of Garden Railways. Richard Schafer's Galena Railway and Navigation Company was pictured in the July/August 1992 issue.
The Munich Transportation Museum
	An elaborate automatic model train is a "must-see" display at Munich Science Museum
These photos are from the Munich Science Museum website, as mine were lost in the fire.
Chiemsee and King Ludwig's Palace
Across the Lake to the Island
Approaching the Palace
Inside the Palace
Fountains and View from the Palace Steps
Chiemsee Bahn
My photos of the Chiemseebahn were lost. These are close to what I had, swiped from various web pages. The original steamer was built in 1813 and is still running. A diesel with similar shape to the original is used for a spare. We rode behind the steamer.

Continue to Part Two: Austria

A Few Pertinent Links
European Railway Links Page
European Railway Maps
Chiemsee Area
Chiemseebahn
Nurnberg Area
Deutsches-Museum Munich
Deutches Bahn Museum Nurnberg
 

E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a Consulting Petrophysicist and a Professional Engineer with over 40 years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical, geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread Canadian and Overseas experience.

"I am a life-long model railroader and have modeled in O27, HO, HOn3, and N Scales. Failing eyesight brought me to G Scale. My father started me in model railroading as a tiny tot in 1944 - he scratch built his first locomotive in 1940, the year I was born, and I still have this loco on my mantle-piece. I am a Life Member (#517) of NMRA, a member of the Rocky Mountain Garden Railroaders (Calgary, Alberta), and have toured a lot of model railways, railway shows, and garden railways. I have never seen a model railway I didn’t like. An extensive library of railway magazines and books, covering topics that appeal to me, sit behind my office desk, ready to be put to use at a moments notice. I hope these pages can communicate to you some of my accumulated experience, my successes and failures, and my love of model railways."