European Railroad Discussion > Around Nurnberg

In my cleaning the closet I came across these. All taken August 3, 1985 either at Nürnberg Station or near it.

1. It was German Railroad's 150th anniversary, or something. 01 1100.
2. 23105 on the point. Outside Nürnberg.
3. At Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof.

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Thanks for excellent set of old steamer pics!

Great pictures. Could you please tell me why the Germans painted their locomotives' drive wheels and undercarriages RED?

Thanks,

Fritz in HSV, AL, USA

It's not just the Germans but pretty well the whole world outside the Americas, the UK, and France. In many countries (China, Russia etc) it was just the wheels painted red while others like Poland and Austria went the whole hog.

I guess it may have depended on where the very first steam locos were purchased from - the US and France bought locos from England, while other states got theirs from Germanic builders. Just a thought!

Great pictures, and yes, they are from the 150 year anniversary of the German Railway (150 Jahre Deutsche Eisenbahnen)!

navy5717th wrote:
> Could you please tell me why the Germans painted their locomotives' drive
> wheels and undercarriages RED?

As spflow already pointed out, a lot of European railroads painted their wheels in red. At least here in Germany, the reason was that this color allowed for a better and earlier recognition of hairline cracks in the spokes and frames, as the remains of the dark grease used tended to accumulate in the fissures which then clearly stood out from the lighter red.

E111

　Here is a Soviet example of paint

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A few more examples of red drivers from Russia:

1. FD at night.

2. LV in the afternoon.

3. TE (German Kriegloko, a part of reparation) in the morning.

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In my view, the red greatly enhances the overall appearance of the locomotives. Especially in photos. All black gets boring.