Holiday help required. Dresden and Slovenia

Evening.

We are planning a family trip in the summer. I wanted to do the railways around Dresden and my wife wants to go to the Julian alps in Slovenia.

Dresden.

I have 4 or 5 days here and so far have the Losnitz, Fichtelberg and Zittau in my sights. Plus will attempt to go around the half roundhouse museum at Dresden. Any others worth trying? Are all of these easy to reach from Dresden?

Slovenia

This is my wife's part of the holiday, but I the steam trip at Lake Bohinj looks fantastic although it's very hard to see if it's running. The railway museum in Ljubjana also looks worth a visit. Any other steam in Slovenia? Does anyone know if the Lake Bohinj steam is likely to run this year?


Many thanks for all/any responses.

Kieran

 

The transport museum in the centre of Dresden is very good. There are two unusual funiculars in the south of the city - one is an overhead monorail, if I recall. The three NG lines you cite are all fairly easy - Losnitz & Fichtelberg are in the city suburbs and the former is accessible via the tram (and the S-bahn). Zittau is a bit more of a hike, but worth the effort. There is a 15" park railway - see https://www.parkeisenbahn-dresden.de/?index_eng

If trams are of interest, this is a must-do:_ https://www.vvo-online.de/en/leisure/historic-vehicles/kirnitzschtalbahn-196.cshtml

 

Slovenia - The Bohinj Railway is superb trip , the last I heard was that they only had one working loco and the Slovenia Railway Museum did not have any funds to overhaul any locos.

The Slovenian Railway Museum Ljubljana is worth a visit - see my photos from 2017 https://paulsimpson.zenfolio.com/p739886075

 

Many thanks. Are there any other standard or narrow guage lines that are manageable in a comfortable day from Dresden?

Also, is there a definitive site which lists German steam railtours? I would love a trip behind a mainline loco.

Many, many thanks.

 

The Bohinj trips looks excellent but most information I can find is a year or two old.

The museum does look interesting and as I have a bit of a thing for Kreigsloks I will definitely try and get there.

Do you or anyone else know about any mainline steam railtours that may occur May/June in that part of rhe world?

Regards

K

 

https://www.reise365.com/dampf-schnellzug-dresden-prag

6 day tour from Dresden in mid-May, might be worth photting. There's a couple of tours from Chemnitz in May with 50 3648, it's only about an hour away from Dresden.

https://www.sem-chemnitz.de/events/kategorie/termine/sonderfahrten/

Other than that, there doesn't seem to be a lot planned at present. Certainly very little showing on Eisenbahn Planer and Drehscheibe.

 

I would sail on the Weisse Flotte

https://www.saechsische-dampfschifffahrt.de/en/

In particular the Diesbar

https://www.saechsische-dampfschifffahrt.de/en/ships/paddle-steamer-diesbar/

Engine built in 1848

 

I been several times since 1976.The two ng lines in Dresden are easy to do,the Fichelbergbahn,my favorite is about a two hour run by train near Annaberg Buchof. The Presnitalbahn is also near Annaberg ,operated by Meyers .Musemsbahn Schonhide ,is difficult ,I done it about 8 years ago ,it took one train ,and a bus to get there .Now I see its one train and three buses ,a 3 and half hour trip.Wilder Robert ,not far from Dresden ,but only work steam one day a month. The last three worked by Meyers. The Zittau system easy from Dresden. I've manage to do all the former DR narrow gauge lines that still operate in the snow ,apart from Wilder Robert. Photo's can be found on my Flickr site www.flickr.com/photos/5611hongkong ..they are in a album East German n Gauge in the snow. Wilder Robert photo's in a album ,Sachsen .Germany Locomotives.
I was thinking of going this weekend ,the Presnitalbahn have a winter gala ,but a lot of the n.g lines have cut backs due to the expense of coal. Fichelberbann only run four returns a day ,one of them is in the dark. The Dresden two have cut backs, but Zittau is about normal. Very low temp's were forecast so I decided to give it a miss in the end.
If you travel by train /bus ,there are some very cheap area day tickets, very large areas for about 20 Eros

 

Firstly, I can recommend the main line from Prague to Dresden for the scenery, so what I did last time I spent significant time in Dresden was fly to Prague, and get the train up.

I can't recommend the Preßnitztalbahn highly enough; it's probably the closest of any of them to a proper 'preserved' railway, rather than one which simply stayed open. As well as the Saxon-Meyers there are also some beautifully restored, older, carriages, which are in regular use. It's a fairly straightforward bus ride from Annaberg-Buchholz and my suggestion would be to get off at the middle station, Schmalzgrube, which has a bus stop right outside. (However, do your own research, it's a few years since I went.)

The museum at Oberrittersgrün is worth visiting (3 steam locos, from memory, though static only) and it's possible to do it the same day as a trip on the Fitchtelbergbahn by getting a bus from/to Oberweisenthal. Incidentally it was -20C in Oberweisenthal the day I did it... wrap up warm!

 

Fichtelbergbahn is not in the suburbs perhaps you mean the Weisseritztalbahn which is, agree Fichtel is well worth the journey though.
In 4/5 days the 2 NG in Dresden, a trip out to Cranzahl, a trip to Zittau, plus a steam paddle steamer outing, is the very maximum, bearing in mind Dresden itself is enjoyable. As well as Altstadt there is a SG preservation at Nossen that runs occasional trips up the branch.
The annual steam festival in April is of course the best for mainline, parallel running and the famous ramp.

 

When we visited these lines in 2009 we stayed a few nights in Radebeul (would have preferred to stay in Dresden but the G7 or something was in town) for the Lossnitz and Weisseritz with a day trip to Zittau. We then moved to Annaberg Bucholz (lovely place to stay BTW) from where it is a short train ride to Cranzahl and easy bus ride to Schmalzgrube for the Pressnitz. We were lucky with the latter as it was their 'enthusiasts' w/e and they had all the toys out of the box. Hope you have a great trip.
Ray.

 

Unfortunately the last steam runs in Slovenia were in December 2019. There were regular spring through to autumn steam runs on the Bohinj line every year and throughout December there were Xmas steam runs all over Slovenia. This has all sadly ended. The COVID lockdown was a factor but mostly it is due to complete indifference by the management at SZ towards running the Museum Train. They simply don’t want to pay for it. Currently the prospect is poor. The class 25 only needs relatively minor work for it to run again although some of the coaching stock needs overhauling.
The Railway Museum is well worth a visit. The 25 and 3 other locos are locked away in the adjacent workshop so you would have to ask for special permission to see them. There is a new Director at the Museum so you might need to ask for her to seek permission.

The only steam in Slovenia is a fireless steam loco which shunts a short distance at the power station near the BTC shopping centre in Ljubljana. Commercial, not preserved steam.

In nearby Austria there are a number of steam narrow gauge lines which are worth looking up.

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

A belated thanks to everyone for their replies and suggestions.

In Dresden, Day 1 was a railtour from Chemnitz to Hozlou with 50-3648. Very interesting day. 4 coaches, one of which was a bar car. A quick burst along a secondary mainline from Chemnitz before a long slog up a steep branchline. A really interesting day. €50 for a ticket. Train was full and I was one of 2 or 3 enthusiasts on it. Very odd to see everyone pile off the train and walk down the 4ft to get photos. Such a different world and I can't help but envy their approach to health and safety.

Day 2 was on Weisseritztalbahn. The railway was busy with families and coach parties. A lovely little railway.

Day 3 was Losnitz. The railway was taking part in a Karl May(?) Festival - a German writer of cowboy fiction. The railway was full of locals dressed as cowboys, and was running a very intensive service with top and tailed local trains and I was lucky to see 4 locos in steam.

Day 4 - the steam museum was open and I had a lovely morning as the staff brought all the locos out and posed them around the turntable. There was no charge for entry and the staff were very friendly. The Class 62 tank was a highlight. These German 'Supertanks' are always fascinating to me. I was lucky to travel behind the 92 at Blackenberg Harz a few years ago. A really lovely selection of locos on shed.

Ljubjana - visit to the Steam museum there. Well worth an hour or two. Was refused access to the 4 locos locked away in the workshop part of the semi-roundhouse but they are visible through windows. But it was still an interesting visit.

Whilst there I spoke to a member of staff who said there are no current plans to restart the Bohinj trips. Apparently some of the fitters and steam drivers left during Covid so at the moment they don't have qualified staff to support it. But based on the fact the clock is ticking on the 2orking locos and nothing is being overhauled, seems a bit bleak to me.

 

50-3648 at Chemnitz

 

Losnitz

 

Dresden Depot