Street, no dummy

[john d Stone]

Looks like they're still at it over there.

https://youtu.be/EJkv8PPIh-E


Meter gauge on an active electric tram system. What do you think the chances are for a similar event in a US city?

[John McNamara]

Klasse Video!
-John

[john d Stone]

I thought so too, John. I'm just amazed how nonchalant the various pedestrians and motorists appear. I rode the Mollibahn up on the Baltic coast (900mm, almost 3' gauge) in 2012. In the street running part, through downtown Bad Doberan, having a 2-8-2T steaming down a narrow street was just part of every day! Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians just got out of the way. The engine crew rang the bell through town, but I only heard them blow a short toot (very short!) as they left the station. I never detected any braking to avoid non-rail traffic. Speed through the streets was probably about 10mph. A short toot and bell is also about all they did approaching road crossings outside of town. Must not be a lawsuit- happy society.

[Andre Anderson]

Greetings,

Interesting little video, well shot and nice surroundings. It was different with all of the street running, I wonder if they use the other track when they are going the other way or do they fight the traffic. By the way where is this little railway located?

Andre

[Philip Marshall]

Hi Andre, The location is Darmstadt. Here's some Wikipedia background for those who can read German: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stra%C3%9Fenbahn_Darmstadt#Dampfstra.C3.9Fenbahn

Great video!

-Philip Marshall

[john d Stone]

Thanks for der wikapedia link, Philip!
"Dampfstrassenbahn" & "Elektrische Strassenbahn" sounds a lot more impressive than "Dummy engine" and "Streetcar"!

other John

[Philip Marshall]

German is an eloquent language -- at least when it comes to science and technology!

-Philip Marshall

[Steve Smith]

Can't resist adding one taught me by my late father-in-law, born in Germany:
Streichholzschächtelchen = match box
When spoken properly and speedily it can sound like No. 10 with the cylinder cocks open.

[Bill Reidy]

My son Brian, a high school junior, likes to joke about the mechanics of the German language versus how other Romance languages roll off the tongue.  His favorite example is the word butterfly:

English:  butterfly
Spanish:  mariposa
Italian:  farfulla
German:  SCHMETTERLING!

In high school, I chose German as a language of study because I liked and better understood the mechanics of it -- not that I can remember much of it 35+ years later!

[john d Stone]

I took two years of German in high school (40+ years ago!). I think I slept through most of the second year. Both my sons studied German in school and actually walked away with a pretty good grasp of the language. Kids these days! We had two exchange students from Germany stay with us, two different school years. Remarkably, some of my prehistoric German was awakened by their presence. Maybe I learn better when I'm resting!
My wife and I visited and stayed with the family of the first student in 2012, for over a week. Their grasp of the English language was far greater than mine of German. It was kind of embarrassing, but they were very nice about it. They actually treated me to a cab ride on the Harz meter gauge line. The crew spoke no English and seemed a bit annoyed with the language barrier, but they put that 2-10-2T through the paces like a couple of pros, which they were!
In looking at the English language, it is amazing how much is derived from German. Probably more so than any other language.

[Pete "Cosmo" Barrington]

Ja, und wir alle wissen, dass "Darmstadt" ist Deutsch für "Damariscotta."

[Philip Marshall]

I know there are many points of English grammar that I didn't really understand until I took German. For example: the who/whom distinction, the will/shall distinction, the subjunctive mood, why some English dialects use "learn" to mean "teach" (as in, "I'm going to learn him some English"), etc. When I saw how these worked in German it suddenly all made sense.

Despite its superstructure of Latin-derived vocabulary, the deep mechanics of English are still thoroughly Germanic.

-Philip Marshall

[Hansel Fardon]

Does Europe not have NIMBYs? That's a lot of street running!

[Andre Anderson]

Does Europe not have NIMBYs? That's a lot of street running!

From what I learned over on another site they only run the steam two or three weekends a year, most of the time they are running trams (Trolleys). At one time from what I understood that one or two of the lines on the tram system were steam powered quite a few years back and that this is a restored, regauged locomotive with historic cars behind it. If this is special occasion I would have thought that there would have been more people in the cars and a whole lot more railfans photographing it.

Andre