Evening all ...

So, here we are back in Leipzig, and there's an initial round of photos to show you already . Having caught my breath after arriving at our place, I then decided to try and make something good of the sunny weather we were having this afternoon, and caught the tram to head over to Heiterblick, hoping to catch one of the Leipzig-Cottbus regional express services on the open line.

Heiterblick Station is located near a fairly large commercial area, but has only a small number of daily departures. Most of these are stopping services operated by private TOC Mitteldeutsche Regiobahn with class 650 "RegioShuttle" DMUs, such as this one on the MRB88298 service from Eilenburg Ost to Engelsdorf. Like many stations in eastern Germany, Heiterblick, located on the Leipzig-Eilenburg Railway, is in rather questionable shape, but actually has a rather unique kind of atmosphere - which I tried to capture in the following pair of images...

Some electrical switching equipment, hidden within the shrubbery...

...and what appears to have been a passenger underpass in earlier times has now turned into a quintessential biotope .

A few minutes later the clouds naturally closed up, just in time for this fuel train headed by a pair of ex-DR V100 type diesel-hydraulics now owned by private freight TOC hvle (Havelländische Eisenbahn AG) - the leading engine carrying the number V 160.3. In total, hvle have seven engines of this type, which have been refitted with new Caterpillar 3512 DI-TA prime movers at the Alstom plant in Stendal and thus have a power output of 1,305 kW/1,774 hp. Engine V 160.3 was originally built in 1972 at the VEB Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke "Hans Beimler" at Hennigsdorf, carrying the works number 13472 and initially being operated as 110 433 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

And then the sky cleared up just in time for me to snap DB Regio engine 182 010 at the head of the RE 28132 service from Cottbus Central Station - later to return as RE 28133 B) . There currently is some permanent way work going on between Leipzig Central Station and Thekla Station, which is why the Cottbus-bound regionals begin and terminate at Thekla till 18 September.

Interestingly, there is a neutral OHLE section east of Heiterblick, which you can see here to be pre-announced by an El 1v signal - this being the blue rhomboid with two white bars in it.

Looking further down the line (for which the 200 mm zoom of my lens came in handy) you can then see the corresponding El 1 and El 2 signals - the first of these being the lower of the two blue rhomboids. El 1 orders the driver to cut power and open the circuit breaker, while El 2 allows him to close it and reapply power. The neutral section is very short - which is why the El 1 and El 2 signals are co-located on the same mast - and can be seen just below the road deck of the bridge.

There also is construction work going on on the tram network these days, which is why an "E" line has been created to offer additional connections between Central Station and Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz. Here, Leoliner car 1317 "Connewitz" is working the "E" line and taking a break just outside the reversing loop at the western side of Central Station - with a Tatra T4D-M car on the 14 line waiting behind.

Well, that's it for today! Let's see where I might head tomorrow...