Peter Wegenstein

A line-by-line listing of all the railway lines in Austria, both ÖBB and private. Profusely illustrated with photographs, many previously unseen in other publications. One problem, though: many pictures display longitudinal stretching which you'd put down to poor digital page composition except that this book dates from 1983. I suspect that some of the photographers had old cameras with "slow" focal plane shutters that introduced this sort of disortion.

Look out for the British Rail ferry wagon at Bruck an der Mur in 1968 on the top photograph on page 73!… (mehr)

"Why the interest in Austrian railways?" I get asked. This book is an ideal answer. It consists of pictures of various locomotives and railcars from all over Europe that found themselves in Austria at the end of World War II. Engines that range from a Great Western Dean Goods to a Russian class Tm (in a very dilapidated state) can be found within this book. Engines from Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Italy, France, Holland, Romania, Belgium, Latvia and Lithuania are also included. A number of engines were in their second or third change of identity, having been passed to new owners as war reparations after World War I. Many of the photographs were taken of dumped locomotives in various stages of disrepair, but others are shown in working condition. Of course, some of the pictures leave more questions unanswered; such as how did Italian electric locomotives end up dumped in Salzburg? The electrification systems were completely incompatible and Salzburg is some considerable distance from the Italian border. A book of wierd and wonderful railway possibilities that I keep returning to.… (mehr)