Publications East German Narrow Gauge

By Bryan Tozer

124 pages. Full colour.

In the early twentieth century Germany had a substantial number of narrow gauge railways. Many routes, including several that have survived to the present, were in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR, or ‘East Germany’). This book concentrates on these lines. A handy gazetteer as well as an album, it offers a good selection of loco portraits and scenes of operation across nine lines in locations from Rügen in the Baltic Sea to Zittau close to the borders of Poland and Czechoslovakia. Also included are two park railways in East Berlin and Dresden.

There is a brief history and route map to introduce each line. A technical section gives details of some of the main steam loco series to be seen, including the modestly sized Saxon Mallets and the very large 2-10-2Ts of the 1950s.

This book has been produced from the slide collection donated to the Society by the late member David Odd. The images cover a period from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, with the emphasis on the years before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989.

Photo: DR 99 6102-0 taking water at Alexisbad on 15 May 1977. From East German Narrow Gauge