Oberpfalzbahn diesel railcar VT35 at Waldmünchen in Bayern on 27 May 2001. This branch line, from Cham, was operated by Oberpfalzbahn though still owned by Deutsche Bahn.

Deutsche Bahn diesel locomotive 218 304-4 on arrival at Weidenberg on 28 May 2001. This branch line, eastwards from Bayreuth, was expected to see its last passenger trains on 8 June 2001: however the line has been repreived - for a while at least. One of the reasons quoted for closure was "condition of track", but use of heavy locomotives and coaching stock instead of, for example, a lightweight railcar, cannot help matters.

On 6 December 2002, 1926-built diesel railbus VT04 stands at Enzweihingen ready to work the 11:55 service to Vaihingen (Enz) Nord. This short line, operated by WEG (Württemburgische Eisenbahn GmbH, now part of Connex Gruppe), was expected to close to all traffic on 13 December 2002.

No bicycles this time: the 11:30 departure from Marienplatz to Degerloch on 8 December 2002, worked by Stuttgart rack tram 1003, is seen here climbing Alte Weinsteige towards the station stop at Haigst.

Former London Docklands Light Railway no.11 was sold, along with the other early build DLR cars, to run on the tram/U-Bahn network in Essen in Germany. Now 5211, the set is seen at the depot in Essen on 6 February 2003.

Saarbahn tram 1010 has worked down from the new northern terminus at Riegelsburg Süd and is seen here departing from the Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof stop on 19 April 2003. This service continues on to the main German Railways network then into France at Sarrguemines, so these trams need to be capable of operating over two electrification systems, 750V dc and 15kV 16.7Hz.

DB dmu set 628 316 stands briefly at Eiswoog station on 20 April 2003. This section of the branch from Grünstadt only sees trains on Sundays, and the whole route is under threat of closure despite being only a recent re-opening. Behind the camera, the rails continue over a high viaduct, though it is not possible to walk across it: the route used to continue to Enkenbach.

metronom service ME81422 from Hamburg Hbf has just arrived at Bremen Hbf in the late afternoon of 9 December 2004. metronom is jointly owned by companies OHE, EVB, Hamburger Hochbahn and Bremer Strassenbahn. This dedicated fleet of locomotives and double-deck coaches work fast services between Hamburg and Bremen and between Hamburg and Uelzen.

What an amazing station Uelzen is, apparently created by artist-architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, but maybe better suited to Morocco than to northern Germany. 10 December 2004.

Siemens "Dispolok" (i.e. available for hire) locomotive ES64U2-034 at the head of train FLX88178 at Elmshorn at 15:10 on 14 December 2004. The train is a "Flensburg Express" working from Hamburg Hbf to Padborg in Denmark, and is operated by Nord-Ostsee-Bahn GmbH - in turn owned by Connex Gruppe.

HSB Steam Locomotive 99 7242-3 on a scheduled passenger working from Nordhausen arrives at Eisfelder Talmuehle.

HSB diesel railcar 187 012-0, working an IBSE railtour, performs a photo-runpast between Hasselfelde and Stiege. Very unusually, the summit at Brocken can be seen in the distance.