Choo-choo train

Another Saturday outing last weekend, as we went on an impromtu trip through the Black Forest in an old train dating back to the 1950s, pulled over the course of the day by a variety of locomotives, the oldest of which is shown here.

I'm no trainspotter, but it was a real treat.

Organised by Nostalgie Rhein Express, the route took us from Basel along the Hochrhein to Waldshut, and then on the old Wutach Valley Railway bahn or Sauschwänzlebahn (Pigtail Line). This was followed by brief stops in Immendingen and Donaueschingen, before we reached Titisee with an hour to kill. The village of Titisee is well known as a holiday destination for, shall we say, the more mature generations. Although my hair's already starting to turn grey, so I probably fitted in. Nevertheless, we forced our way through the geriatric throng and down to the lakeside, where we hired an electric motor boat and ventured out into the watery expanse for half an hour (see photo).

After a delay leaving Titisee, we double-backed on ourselves by returning to Donaueschingen, before heading northwest on the Schwarzwaldbahn all the way to Offenburg. Unfortunately, we were two hours late by that stage, due to one or two waits to let scheduled trains pass as well as a longer stop at dusk in one of the deepest parts of the Black Forest caused by a slight technical problem with the locomotive's brakes. It meant that we didn't get back down to Basel from Offenburg until midnight, making it the longest either have us have spent on a train in one day (we left Basel that morning at 9.30).