Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: hbf

I first rode behind a DB 101 Class electric in 1998, on an Intercity service from Emmerich to Koln. That was a very memorable trip, and since then I've ridden behind a 101 on other occasions as well. They're very fast (for a locomotive as opposed to a trainset) being able to hit 220Km/h with little effort, although officially they only do 200Km/h in service with their 10-12 car Intercities, very powerful (the Class 103 is the only large German electric class to ever beat it), and just...well...good looking. The bright cherry red that DB uses for its Intercity equipment nowadays suits them especially well. Therefore, I figure I should use any excuse to put a picture of a 101 on my website, so here it is. I took this is Dresden Hauptbahnhof in 2005, where I was catching a Eurocity service to Prague. They cut the 101 off in Bad Schandau or Decin, if I'm not mistaken, replacing it with a CD Class 363.

This was a very lucky shot, although not perfect. I had gotten on the train, and was regretting the fact that I didn't have the chance to catch this earlier, when it went by on the mainline when I was in the wrong part of Dresden to get a good angle on it (I only saw and heard the exhaust through the trees). Much to my amazement, my camera was already in my hands, and there it was, moving slowly enough for me to get this shot!!! It's an old DRG Class 50 2-10-0, repainted for DB, as after World War II DB didn't get rid of steam until 1978, and even after that the DR kept it, so today a lot of it has been preserved.

Built by Siemens, the 402 Class ICE high speed trains were the second production variant of the ICE, introduced in the mid-1990s. They were smaller and slower than the original 401 Class (250 Km/h instead of 280), but they offered better safety, and their shorter length allowed them to handle more minor routes. In this case, though, it doesn't look to have worked, as two sets had to be coupled together.