Two recent albums featuring East German steam

[Bill Jamieson]

 

I posted this about a week ago on a German Railways thread but it occurs to me that the books in question might be of interest to anyone who appreciates good photography (and high production values),  regardless of what country is featured, so have reposted it here.

Bill

 

   On 23/05/2021 at 10:12,  Klaus ojo said: 

The former East German "Transpress " at their time has published a series of books named "Dampflok-Archiv" edited by M. Weisbrod, H. Müller, W. Petznik, A.Wagner and many others.

A bit off topic , but the H. Müller mentioned above will be Hans Müller, who was employed at the DR's VES/M research and development facility in Halle and was also a very competent photographer. His 1975 book 'Schiene, Dampf und Kamera' was a rarity from Transpress - an imaginatively produced railway pictorial album, which was marketed in West Germany by Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart. A revamped version in landscape format was published by EK Verlag in 2018 (along similar lines to the 2012 reworking of Colin Gifford's 'Each a Glimpse', with many photographs given more space, a few deleted and some new material introduced). This was followed last year by 'Dampfbetrieb der DR - ein Streifzug von Nord nach Süd', which I bought as a  Christmas present to myself! I was so impressed by the quality, both of the photographs and printing, that I immediately ordered 'Schiene, Dampf und Kamera' (despite having the original edition) and this arrived today. It is certainly a significant improvement on the original version (which, to be fair, was OK for its time) and I would thoroughly recommend both books, which are available for about  £31/£35  from Amazon. A third in the series, concentrating on DR narrow-gauge lines, is planned for later this year.

Bill

https://www.eisenbahn-kurier.de/buecher/5160-schiene-dampf-kamera

https://www.eisenbahn-kurier.de/buecher/6069-dampfbetrieb-der-dr

https://bahnbuch.de/dampfbetrieb-der-dr-band-2-schmalspurbahnen

 

[Ian Hargrave]

On 15/01/2022 at 17:07, Bill Jamieson said:

 

I posted this about a week ago on a German Railways thread but it occurs to me that the books in question might be of interest to anyone who appreciates good photography (and high production values),  regardless of what country is featured, so have reposted it here.

Bill

 

   On 23/05/2021 at 10:12,  Klaus ojo said: 

The former East German "Transpress " at their time has published a series of books named "Dampflok-Archiv" edited by M. Weisbrod, H. Müller, W. Petznik, A.Wagner and many others.

A bit off topic , but the H. Müller mentioned above will be Hans Müller, who was employed at the DR's VES/M research and development facility in Halle and was also a very competent photographer. His 1975 book 'Schiene, Dampf und Kamera' was a rarity from Transpress - an imaginatively produced railway pictorial album, which was marketed in West Germany by Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart. A revamped version in landscape format was published by EK Verlag in 2018 (along similar lines to the 2012 reworking of Colin Gifford's 'Each a Glimpse', with many photographs given more space, a few deleted and some new material introduced). This was followed last year by 'Dampfbetrieb der DR - ein Streifzug von Nord nach Süd', which I bought as a  Christmas present to myself! I was so impressed by the quality, both of the photographs and printing, that I immediately ordered 'Schiene, Dampf und Kamera' (despite having the original edition) and this arrived today. It is certainly a significant improvement on the original version (which, to be fair, was OK for its time) and I would thoroughly recommend both books, which are available for about  £31/£35  from Amazon. A third in the series, concentrating on DR narrow-gauge lines, is planned for later this year.

Bill

https://www.eisenbahn-kurier.de/buecher/5160-schiene-dampf-kamera

https://www.eisenbahn-kurier.de/buecher/6069-dampfbetrieb-der-dr

https://bahnbuch.de/dampfbetrieb-der-dr-band-2-schmalspurbahnen

 

Absolutely fascinating. 

[Oldddudders]

The schmalspur volume would certainly be of interest. One of the (few?) good things to come out of the post-WWII partitioning of Germany was the survival of so many narrow gauge lines, with their fascinating motive power and stock, in the eastern bloc. The continuing operation of several in our time is such a joy. 

[Bill Jamieson]

On 21/01/2022 at 09:36, Oldddudders said:

The schmalspur volume would certainly be of interest. 

I'm particularly looking forward to that one being published as well. Not that  'Schiene, Dampf und Kamera'  is devoid of narrow-gauge coverage - there's a 43 page chapter devoted to it plus four pages in the first chapter (Im Bahnbetriebswerk), so about 25% schmalspurig all told. And lines which closed in the late sixties and early seventies are also featured - eg  the Spreewaldbahn and the MPSB (Mecklenburg-Pommersche Schmalspurbahn).

Bill

[Bernard Lamb]

I will keep an eye out for the books.

In about 1980 a delegation from the plant in Halle visited London to talk to BR people about various technical topics.

I wonder if Hans Muller was included in that group.

SWMBO at one time lived not far from Halle and spoke with a similar accent and a Saxon dialect.

She was invited to join the meeting, as one of the very few local people  around at that time, in order to chat with them and make them feel at home. Probably the only time she has been involved in railways.

Bernard

[Bill Jamieson]

I see that Dampfbetrieb der DR Band 2: Schmalspurbahnen is available from Platform 5 at £45.95 + £4.60 p&p.

Bill

://www.platform5.com/Catalogue/Non-English-Language-Titles/Non-English-Historical/Dampfbetrieb-der-DR-Band-2-Schmalspurbahnen-EK-EDDR2S

[Bill Jamieson]

The Hans Müller narrow-gauge album is now available from Amazon UK at just over £36 with free postage. My copy arrived a couple of days ago and overall I'm very impressed. It covers just about all the narrow gauge lines that were still extant in the mid 1960s (Eisfeld to Schönbrunn is an obvious omission) so the lines which survive today  are not necessarily well covered - the sections on the Weisseritztalbahn, Zittau system and Harzquerbahn are quite brief and I would have to say that the shots in the latter  section are a bit lacklustre. However this is compensated by some absolute belters of shots elsewhere - not least the frontispiece, a very atmospheric winter shot which features the obliquely lit side of the shed at Jöhstadt with six feet long icicles hanging from the guttering and just the front end of a Meyer visible . The photographer also had a good eye for composing a loco portrait (in my opinion) and there are a number of such shots of rarities which didn't survive into the computer numbering era.

Bill

Edited July 2, 2022 by Bill Jamieson
Comment re Eisfeld-Schönbrunn added