I have been a member of the friends’ association supporting the local volunteer fire brigade for years. With this year marking the 125th anniversary of that association, the management committee here had decided, to invite its members to a very special excursion as a sort of anniversary celebration.

The idea had been a trip down into history, which was brought to live by a trip on an actual steam train. As such – this morning, we made it to the local commuter train station, where we were picked up by a 1943 produced steam locomotive.

From here we enjoyed a trip of around three hours, making our way via Darmstadt, Bensheim and Weinheim to Heidelberg.

In Heidelberg we had about four hours, to explore town, its nice setup at the Neckar river and the world-famous views of the castle and the old town.

At about 17:00 we had to be back at the train station, to board the train and get back to Rodgau again via Weinheim, Bensheim and Darmstadt.

Below some impressions from both the train, train ride – and of course the mandatory shots of Heidelberg.