JUST returned from a memorable steam trip through Germany on the inaugural journey of Belle Trains. The “Harz Mountain Belle” took us across the nation, behind a giant vintage “Class O1” steam locomotive. We travelled in luxury art-deco carriages, served delicious food, visiting Cologne, Nuremberg, Dresden, Leipzig and Wiesbaden. Our destination was the magical steam-operated Harz railway system in the mountains of the old GDR, one of tle last publicly operated steam networks in the world. Now writing an article for the Daily Mail, who commissioned me. (Pic shows me on the footplate racing along the main line from Frankfurt to Nuremberg at 70mph.)
