As part of a protest the steam locomotive BR 50 3616-5 was temporarily used again in commercial service.


The German text translated:

RP Railsystems GmbH from Gotha has been operating scheduled timber transport services in the Thuringian Forest from Schleusingen and Themar for several years. At very short notice, DB InfraGo AG decided to downgrade the route class on a section of track at Themar station. For RP Railsystems, this meant that they could no longer run the timber trains with their class 218 locomotives, as these have an axle mass of 20 tonnes. The alternatives to the modern vehicles of the Br 248 and the existing locomotives of the 218 series would have been to transport the timber completely by road or to run the timber trains in smaller sections with significantly weaker locomotives, which would mean an enormous amount of additional time and personnel. Due to the fact that DB InfraGo is unable to maintain its stations and lines, it prefers to solve the problem the easy way by lowering the line class instead of tackling the problem and renewing the said section.

To draw attention to itself here, RP Railsystems brought steam locomotive 50 3616-5 from Schwarzenberg to the Thuringian Forest to haul its scheduled timber trains with steam traction from 1 to 4 July. The class 50.35 only has an axle mass of 15.4 tonnes and is therefore approved for the reduced route class. The class V75 diesel locomotive 107 018-4 was also used.

It is somewhat sad that such measures will have to be resorted to in 2024 in order to improve the infrastructure. However, this is a real treat for photographers and fans of steam traction.
In the early morning of 02.07.24, the 50 hauled an empty timber train from Meiningen to Themar. This was pulled aside by the V60. The locomotive then travelled back to Meiningen. In the afternoon, another empty train was hauled from Meiningen to Schleusingen. The two V100s ran at the rear of the train.
The highlight in the evening was the loaded Giga-Wood train, which consisted of 16 double wagons and had a total weight of approx. 1800 tonnes. The passage in Veßra and the approach in Themar were an acoustic feast.

Another video: